Shenzhen emerges as China’s robotaxi capital as DeepRoute.ai opens public trials in tech hub

China’s southern tech hub Shenzhen is emerging as the country’s autonomous driving capital, backed by a growing fleet of robotaxis and an army of about 800 start-ups in the field – all blessed by a supportive government that is drafting local regulations for self-driving cars.

Self-driving start-up DeepRoute.ai, which was created in 2019, on Monday launched its robotaxi service to Shenzhen residents. A fleet of 20 self-driving cabs with safety drivers will start to take adult passengers, who have made online appointments, around the central business district in Futian.

DeepRoute.ai said in a statement that its service has received a permit to run trials, making it the first company to officially run a public robotaxi program in the city.

The company said its driverless taxi service is free of charge and open to adult users who apply for an invitation code. It has set up 100 designated pick-up and drop-off points, which includes landmarks in the area and vaccination centres, covering 124 miles of roads in Futian.

A South China Morning Post reporter applied for the service on Monday but had not received a code by 6pm. A company spokeswoman said the invite code could take up to seven working days to arrive and the company will gradually expand the number of users as it grows its fleet.

Chinese self-driving start-up AutoX announced in January 2021 that it had opened fully driverless robotaxi services to the public in the Pingshan area of Shenzhen. However, the trial sparked controversy and created headlines after the local Shenzhen government said it had not granted a permit to AutoX run a driverless service.