I've been saying for many years that robotaxis will definitely be implemented in China earlier than in the United States, and I'm very positive and optimistic about the implementation of robotaxis in China.

The reason is simple.

For the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, city-level governments are not only very professional in startup incubation and enterprise matchmaking, but also personally plan and deploy urban planning and road traffic in new urban areas of major cities.

In the past decade, Chinese cities have entered a period of intense competition. This includes prefecture-level and county-level cities in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, as well as strong provincial capitals. City governments not only sell land plot by plot and plan area by area, but also have enterprise incubation platforms, investment attraction systems, and liaison offices.

Now, several giants have emerged in China's autonomous driving industry, competing for talent. On one hand, these large autonomous driving companies are vying for licenses, implementation, deployment, and testing in various cities (mainly new districts), while also setting up R&D centers.

On the other hand, city governments are also competing to cooperate with autonomous driving giants, expediting implementation, offering licenses, tax exemptions, office buildings/industrial parks, and fully embracing cooperation.

Meanwhile, as direct managers and major shareholders of the new urban areas, residential areas, commercial districts, and industrial parks they've personally incubated, city governments can quickly advance projects once agreements are reached—from autonomous buses, industrial park shuttles, and driverless sightseeing vehicles in scenic areas, to robotaxis. They actively cooperate, deploy, create buzz, and promote these projects, showcasing them as achievements in presentations everywhere.

North America, however, is in trouble. On one hand, various communities and local councils emerge to argue, easily derailing projects. On the other hand, state and federal laws on privacy and other issues create obstacles.

As a result, you see that Waymo's technology was fully mature before 2020, but by 2024, it's still only operating in three cities.

Of course, there are also very strong opposing voices in China. The internet is full of concerns about "safety," "taking jobs from Didi drivers," and "what if there's an accident."

But firstly, most of these doubts are quite foolish and based on wild speculation. Secondly, Chinese people are accustomed to trading privacy for convenience, and many are also tired of the generally low quality of Chinese drivers and actual vehicle conditions.

City governments are also clever, deploying robotaxi services in new districts, new industrial parks, suburbs, and other areas they fully control, rarely entering old urban areas, thus avoiding disputes with citizens over property rights and responsibilities.

It can be said that from 2022 to 2024, some Chinese city governments have gradually started to outpace the US in robotaxis, starting with driverless grocery and food delivery, then capitalizing on the tourism boom after the lifting of pandemic restrictions in 2023 to promote driverless sightseeing vehicles.

By 2024, robotaxis have finally begun full-scale deployment in over a dozen cities, with most people using them while exclaiming, "I'll sell my car in the future" and "I'll never need a driver's license again."

Of course, there is also enormous pushback, and I believe that fatalities caused by autonomous driving will inevitably occur, not just one or two, but possibly continuously in terms of probability.

However, the technological trend is unstoppable. In the long-distance race of independent and competitive robotaxis, China's entire industry—in terms of implementation, launch, improvement, and standardization—will clearly be far ahead of the current United States, and the technological gap will gradually close.