Shenzhen’s shift into robotaxis leaves drivers by the wayside
Chinese tech hub expands driverless vehicles as growing automation drive threatens gig economy workforce.
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Shenzhen’s taxi and ride-hailing drivers face more competition with the roll-out of robotaxis, such as Baidu’s driverless vehicles, seen here in Wuhan, China.
PHOTO: REUTERS
William Langley
China’s southern technology hub of Shenzhen is paving the way for the roll-out of self-driving vehicles, a move that puts it at the forefront of the march to automation but is set to anger hundreds of thousands of hard-pressed taxi drivers.
The rules, which will allow the government to permit robotaxis from July 1, stand to threaten an army of taxi and ride-hailing drivers in one of China’s biggest cities, many of whom have already been displaced by automation and offshoring from the factories that powered the country’s breakneck economic growth.
