In June, the Chinese government gave the green light to nine domestic carmakers, including BYD and Nioto begin testing conditional self-driving technology on some public roads. Elon Musk wants to get regulatory approval for Tesla’s fully self-driving technology by the end of this year.
The actions of the Chinese government have been widely commented on by many Chinese social media users who claim that autonomous driving is “snatching rice bowls” from drivers or putting them out of work.
According to analysts, autonomous driving will replace the work of drivers in the long term.and since there is now a shortage of drivers again, the introduction of autonomous taxis to the roads is beneficial for taxi companies.
Robot taxis are already in Wuhan
Baidu’s ride-hailing platform Apollo Go has about 400 robotaxi vehicles operating in Wuhan. The company plans to increase that number to 1,000 by the end of the year.
Apollo Go’s service has become so popular that taxi drivers have asked Wuhan’s transportation authorities to restrict their use of the service, according to a media report cited by CNBC. The popularity of the self-driving taxis is due to the difference in fares. On the Apollo Go app, a 16-minute ride in a robotaxi in Beijing’s southern suburbs will cost 10.36 yuan ($1.46), CNBC reported, about half the 20 yuan offered by ride-hailing apps that can hail taxis.
Experts say that the development of robot taxis will create new jobs
Experts say autonomous mobility will mature gradually. Mohit Sharma, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC that Drivers’ jobs will be reduced gradually. “It will be a slow transition phase area by area, region by region,” said Mohit Sharma.
Sharma added that governments can work with robotaxi companies to redirect drivers to other jobswhile education systems can train new generations for the jobs of the future.
An Apollo Go spokesperson said the company is committed to creating new job opportunities in the ecosystem. The company saidroles include monitoring and testing systems, as well as data annotation – CNBC reported.
Autonomous vehicles perform all aspects of the driving task, but workers are essential to the technology. Jeff Farrah, CEO of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, told CNBC that the industry is creating a wide range of new, well-paying jobs. “These roles include service technicians, remote assistance operators, mapping specialists, dispatchers and terminal operators,” Farrah said.
