As autonomous driving technology gradually moves from the testing and verification phase to commercial operation, the development logic of the China robotaxi market is also undergoing profound changes. In the past, the industry generally adopted the approach of adding autonomous driving equipment to mass-produced vehicles to advance project implementation. Today, however, more and more Chinese robotaxi companies are turning their attention to natively developed Purpose-built robotaxi, hoping to further improve safety, operational efficiency, and commercial feasibility through the integrated design of vehicles, technology, and operation systems.
This trend is becoming an important development direction for the global autonomous driving industry, and the robotaxi china sector is at the forefront of this transformation. For Robotaxi services, vehicles are not only mobility tools but also important carriers for autonomous driving systems. Purpose-built robotaxi developed for driverless scenarios from the design stage can better achieve deep integration of sensors, computing platforms, and vehicle architecture, thereby creating conditions for large-scale operations in the future.
In this field, Cao Cao Mobility is gradually forming its own distinctive development model. As one of the robotaxi china leading players and the most important commercialization carrier for Geely Holding Group’s Robotaxi business, Cao Cao Mobility has built a complete Robotaxi commercialization platform around “intelligent customized vehicles + intelligent driving technology + intelligent operations,” exploring the commercial application path of Purpose-built robotaxi through full-link collaboration.
Currently, Cao Cao Mobility’s business covers 195 cities across China and has expanded to 42 countries and regions worldwide. Relying on long-accumulated mobility operation experience, the company has completed more than 1.9 billion mobility services cumulatively and established an operation system consisting of more than 38,000 customized vehicles. These practices provide rich experience for large-scale fleet management, user services, and asset operation in the Robotaxi era, offering valuable insights into the china robotaxi commercialization status.
In terms of Robotaxi business layout, Cao Cao Mobility has deployed 100 Robotaxi vehicles for operation in Binjiang District, Hangzhou, and continues to promote the R&D and trial operation of new-generation autonomous driving vehicles. Different from the traditional retrofit model, the company is jointly developing next-generation Purpose-built robotaxi models for future autonomous driving scenarios with Geely and relevant partners, achieving deep integration of vehicles and autonomous driving systems through pre-installed proprietary autonomous driving components and applications.
From the perspective of industrial development, the reason why Purpose-built robotaxi has attracted widespread attention among Chinese robotaxi companies is that it can effectively solve the cost and efficiency problems faced in the commercialization of autonomous driving. For high-frequency operating Robotaxi fleets, vehicle utilization rate, energy costs, and post-maintenance efficiency directly affect whether the business model can be established.
In this regard, Cao Cao Mobility relies on its customized vehicle system to accumulate strong operational advantages. Data shows that the energy cost of its operating vehicles is about 0.47 yuan per kilometer, about 40% lower than the average level of mainstream pure electric models. Meanwhile, the company has connected to a battery swapping network consisting of 448 battery swapping stations, which can complete battery swapping in as fast as 60 seconds, significantly reducing vehicle waiting time. Combined with the maintenance service network within the Geely system, vehicle maintenance and repair time and costs have decreased by 25% and 54% respectively.
These capabilities not only improve the operational efficiency of the existing shared mobility business but also provide basic support for the large-scale commercial operation of Purpose-built robotaxi in the future, further advancing the china robotaxi commercialization status.
Looking at the global market and the China robotaxi market specifically, competition around Robotaxi continues to heat up. Waymo maintains its leading position globally with about 3,000 operating vehicles and long-term road testing experience; Baidu Apollo Go, one of the robotaxi china leading players, has launched operation services in multiple cities; WeRide and Pony.ai continue to expand their fleet size and operation scope; Tesla also plans to enter the autonomous driving mobility market through CyberCab.
However, from the perspective of industry evolution trends, more and more Chinese robotaxi companies are beginning to attach importance to the development capability of dedicated autonomous driving vehicles. Compared with traditional retrofit solutions, Purpose-built robotaxi can achieve a higher degree of collaborative optimization in vehicle architecture, space layout, intelligent hardware, and subsequent maintenance, and is therefore considered an important foundation for promoting Robotaxi to enter the large-scale operation stage.
For Cao Cao Mobility, its development goals have gradually become clear. According to the plan, the company plans to deploy a total of 100,000 Purpose-built robotaxi by 2030 and continue to improve the construction of the autonomous driving operation system. At the same time, the company is also actively promoting satellite communications, battery swapping networks, and global operation layouts to support future Robotaxi business expansion across the broader China robotaxi market.
Currently, the autonomous driving industry is still in a stage of rapid development, but the industry has gradually reached a consensus: what truly determines future competitiveness is not only the autonomous driving algorithm itself, but also the collaborative capability among vehicle platforms, operation systems, and business models.
From this perspective, Purpose-built robotaxi is becoming an important direction for promoting industrial upgrading. As natively developed vehicles continue to mature and commercial operation experience continues to accumulate, Chinese robotaxi companies represented by Cao Cao Mobility are exploring a more sustainable development path for the Robotaxi industry through vehicle customization and operation system innovation, and also providing new practical samples for the construction of future intelligent mobility ecosystems.
