“The Alphabet-owned Waymo, which launched the world’s first fully driverless service in Phoenix in 2020, remains the largest operator in the U.S. But Chinese rivals are quickly catching up in both scale and technological capability. Chinese tech giant Baidu recently announced its Apollo Go robotaxi service has completed more than 11 million rides, surpassing Waymo’s reported 10 million. The company is now testing in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, with reported plans to expand to Switzerland and Turkey. 

Top Chinese contenders WeRide and Pony.ai — both listed in the U.S. and backed by investors including Nvidia and Toyota — are also rapidly expanding through partnerships with Uber in Europe and the Middle East. Both companies have secured permits to test in the U.S.  

Meanwhile, Elon Musk recently said Tesla will launch its much-delayed robotaxi service in Austin this month, with San Francisco and Los Angeles to follow.”

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