TOPSHOT – This photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a panoramic view of the driver’s seat and controls of a driverless robotaxi as part of tech giant Baidu’s Apollo Go self-driving project in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, Central China. Self-driving taxis, a sight to behold as they drive past office buildings and shopping malls, are slowly spreading across Chinese cities, sparking alarm and curiosity. (Photo: Pedro PARDO / AFP) / With: “China Technology Cars”, “Focus”, author: Teng Jingxuan (Photo: PEDRO PARDO / AFP, Getty Images)
Pedro Pardo | AFP | Getty Images
The rollout of robotaxis in China has raised concerns among drivers about job security, but experts say the technology is already creating new jobs.
On Tuesday, China released 16,000 test licenses 32,000 kilometers of public test roads have been opened for autonomous vehicles. In June, the government also green light Nine domestic automakers, including BYD and NIO, have begun testing conditional autonomous driving technology on some public roads. Elon Musk hopes to get regulatory approval for Tesla’s fully self-driving technology by the end of the year.
But all this action has led many Chinese social media users to say that self-driving cars are “taking away drivers’ jobs” or putting them out of work.
In the long run, autonomous driving will definitely replace drivers’ jobs. But again, there is already a shortage of drivers. So, for taxi (companies), you can see it’s good for them.
Mohit Sharma
Counterpoint Research Analyst
Baidu’s Self-driving ride-hailing platform Apollo Go has more than 500 robotaxis in Wuhan, its largest operating area, and plans to increase its number to 1,000 by the end of this year. Baidu CEO Robin Li said the company’s share of Wuhan’s ride-hailing market is only about 1%.
“Expansion will be a gradual process that may take many years,” Lee said during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Aug. 22.
The Apollo Go service was reportedly so popular that taxi drivers petitioned the Wuhan city transportation department to restrict its use. media reports.
A check on the Apollo Go app showed that a 16-minute ride in a robotaxi in the southern outskirts of Beijing costs 10.36 yuan ($1.46), about half the 20 yuan fare listed on ride-hailing apps that hail taxis.
Created new job opportunities
Despite the headlines, experts say self-driving travel will mature.
“You’re not going to lose all the jobs at once. It’s going to be a slow transition phase by region, region by region,” said Mohit Sharma, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research.
He added that the government could work with robo-taxi companies to transition drivers to other jobs, while the education system could train a new generation for the jobs of the future.
An Apollo Go spokesperson said the company is committed to creating new jobs in the ecosystem. The company said its role includes monitoring and testing systems and data annotation.
Wang Juan, who has worked as a road test operator at Apollo Go for about two years, told CNBC that she decided to join the industry because it interested her. Road testing operators trial self-driving vehicles and provide feedback on issues encountered during testing for optimization.
She worked for an automaker but felt her career was stalled. She jumped at the chance to work for Apollo Go.
“It’s very challenging. It’s very different from my previous jobs,” she said of her current role in Mandarin (translated by CNBC). “In this position, I work to identify issues and problems with self-driving cars.”
Jeff Farrah, CEO of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, said the industry is “creating a variety of new high-paying jobs” in the United States, including service technicians, remote assistance operators, mapping experts, dispatchers and Terminal operator.
“While autonomous vehicles perform various aspects of driving tasks, workers are critical to this technology. It is also important to remember that the added accessibility benefits of autonomous vehicles will help the disabled community access new employment opportunities,” Farah said.
While there will always be some jobs displaced when new technology enters the market, Sharma agreed that innovation will also “create more jobs and new jobs because of technology.” Sharma listed cybersecurity, vehicle testing and validation, and software development as some of the opportunities.
“In the long term, autonomous driving will definitely take over drivers’ jobs. But again, there’s already a shortage of drivers. So, for taxi (companies), you can see this being a benefit for them,” he said.
–CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.
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