TOPSHOT – Photo taken on Aug. 1, 2024 shows a general view of the driver’s seat and controls of an autonomous driverless robotaxi vehicle developed as part of Baidu’s self-driving technology giant Apollo Go, in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province . Turning heads as they pass office buildings and shopping malls, driverless taxis are slowly spreading across Chinese cities, causing both wariness and wonder. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP) / To go with: CHINA-TECHNOLOGY-AUTOMOTIVE, FOCUS by Jing Xuan TENG (Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)
Pedro Pardo | Afp | Getty Images
China’s robotaxi push is sparking job security fears for drivers, but experts say the technology is already creating new jobs.
On Tuesday, China issued 16,000 test licenses for autonomous vehicles and opened 32,000 kilometers of public test roads. In June and the government green light nine domestic automakers, including BYD and Nio, will begin conditionally testing automated driving technologies on some public roads. Elon Musk wants to get regulatory approval for Tesla’s Full-Self-Driving technology by the end of this year.
However, all this action has led many Chinese social media users to say that autonomous driving is “grabbing rice bowls” from drivers or putting them out of work.
In the long run, autonomous driving will definitely displace driver jobs. But then again there is already a shortage of drivers. So sure, about the taxi [companies]you can see it is a benefit to them.
Mohit Sharma
analyst, Counterpoint Research;
Baidu’s Self-driving platform Apollo Go has around 400 robot taxis operating in Wuhan – its largest operating region – and plans to increase that to 1,000 by the end of the year. Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, said the company’s market share in Wuhan is only about 1%.
“Scale up will be a gradual process and may take many years,” Lee said during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Aug. 22.
The Apollo Go service has become so popular that taxi drivers have asked the Wuhan Transport Authority to restrict use of the service, according to media reports.
A check on the Apollo Go app showed that a 16-minute robotaxi ride in the southern suburb of Beijing would cost 10.36 yuan ($1.46), about half the 20 yuan fare quoted by ride-hailing apps that can call a taxi.
New jobs were created
Despite the flurry of headlines, experts say autonomous mobility will mature gradually.
“You’re not going to lose all the jobs in one fell swoop. It’s going to be a slow transition phase by region, region by region,” said Mohit Sharma, research analyst at Counterpoint Research.
He added that governments could work with robotaxi companies to switch drivers to other jobs, while education systems can train new generations for the jobs of the future.
An Apollo Go spokesperson said the company is committed to creating new job opportunities in the ecosystem. The roles include those in monitoring and testing systems, as well as data annotation, the company said.
Wang Juan, who has been working as a road test operator at Apollo Go for about two years, told CNBC that she decided to join the industry because she was interested. Road test operators test autonomous vehicles and provide feedback on issues encountered during testing for optimization.
She was working in an automobile industry but felt that her career was stagnant there. He passed on the opportunity to work for Apollo Go.
“Very challenging. It’s very different from my previous work,” she told Mandarin of her current role, as translated by CNBC. “In this role I seek to find the problems and issues with self-driving cars.”
Jeff Farrah, CEO of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, said the industry is “creating a wide variety of new, well-paying jobs” in the US. These roles include service technicians, remote assistance operators, mapping specialists, dispatchers and terminal operators. he said.
“Although AVs perform all aspects of the driving task, workers are essential to the technology. It is also important to remember that the increased accessibility benefits of AVs will help the disabled community gain new employment opportunities,” said Farrah.
While there is always some job displacement when new technology enters the market, Sharma agreed that innovation will also create more jobs and new jobs because of technology. Sharma cited cyber security, vehicle testing and validation and software development as some of the opportunities.
“In the long run, self-driving will definitely displace driver jobs. But then again, there’s already a shortage of drivers. So sure, for the taxi [companies]you can see it’s a benefit to them,” he said.
– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.
Clarification: This story has been revised to reflect the updated number of Apollo Go robots in Wuhan.
