James Peng, cofounder and CEO of Chinese robotaxi startup Pony AI, was reviewing customer data with his team, and he was facing a puzzle. Every day, one of his users would book a robotaxi at the same time: right after lunch.

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“After a while, we called him and asked why he always took a ride at that time,” Peng recalled to Fortune.

The user’s answer? “The environment is great. It’s clean. I use it as my napping place!”

For Peng, the regular napper is a sign of how quickly riders are adapting their behavior as self-driving cars start to take over China’s—and the world’s—streets.

Chinese robotaxis are plying the streets of cities like Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai. And much like how Waymos are transforming user behavior in San Francisco, robotaxis like Pony AI’s are changing what Chinese passengers are doing.

“Without a driver in the loop, we have to find creative ways to do a lot of things,” Peng says. If a passenger leaves a door open—a common problem for robotaxis—the car might chirp at a passerby in a “cute voice,” in Peng’s words, asking them to close it. If that doesn’t work, Pony AI will reach out to China’s army of delivery gig workers, asking them to close the door and maybe “clean up [the car’s interior] a little bit,” says Peng.

Pony AI is one of several Chinese companies, alongside fellow startup WeRide and search giant Baidu, that are aggressively expanding autonomous vehicles in China and beyond. Pony AI has 1,200 taxis on the road, with plans to hit 3,000 by the end of the year—on track with Waymo. As of early 2026, over 50 Chinese cities allow self-driving cars on public roads in a testing capacity. At least 10 allow commercial operations, the same as in the U.S.

And Chinese robotaxis are now in service well beyond China. Pony AI says it’s now delivering 26 rides per car per day, or somewhere north of 25,000 daily in total, with operations in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Singapore, and is planning to expand into Europe; its counterparts are also expanding around the world. (By comparison, Waymo is present in only two non-U.S. cities: London and Tokyo.)

A number of structural advantages have made China a fertile test bed for self-driving cars.

First, it has a strong manufacturing base that can drive the cost of components down to ultra-affordable levels. That’s thanks to companies like Hesai Technology, which makes the lidar sensors needed for robotaxis to see what’s around them; the Shanghai-based company has slashed the cost of such sensors by 99.5%, enabling them to be installed in cars that cost as little as $15,000. Add China’s broader strength in making EVs and connected cars, and robotaxi firms can tap a wide array of affordable, high-quality vehicles for their fleets.

> Peng sees a world with fewer human-driven cars as “inevitable,” citing safety and convenience. “People love to drive; they don’t love driving all the time,” he says. But he doesn’t see that trend as a danger sign for the labor force, noting, “AI will change what we consider ‘work.’ ”

Peng points to an additional advantage: the ready availability of tech talent. China now boasts deep networks of big tech companies, startups, and universities that train the next generation of founders and engineers. “When I left China more than 20 years ago, that kind of ecosystem really didn’t exist,” Peng says. “Now you have internet companies and tech companies that took talent and trained them. It’s a numbers game: Quality is important, but with enough quantity, you can create an ecosystem.”

Chinese consumers are also more willing to consider self-driving cars. Around 85% of Chinese drivers reported being comfortable with robotaxis without human supervision, compared with 39% of U.S. drivers, according to a 2023 survey from PwC. Far fewer Chinese—just 35%—drive a car, meaning they may be more willing to hire a robotaxi.

Finally, there’s government support for automated driving, which Beijing sees as a strategic industry. Local governments offer pilot zones, subsidies, and speedy permits for high-level autonomous driving, while national regulators have issued guidelines to move robotaxis from testing to commercial services in dozens of cities.

HSBC predicted last year that robotaxis could soon capture around 6% of China’s total taxi and ride-hailing market, generating $40 billion a year in fare revenue; meanwhile, UBS estimated that the size of the robotaxi market in China could reach $183 billion a year—if self-driving cars completely replace human-driven taxis.

Pony AI gets its start

James Peng spent most of his career in Silicon Valley. After getting his PhD from Stanford, he spent seven years at Google, working with its ads teams; he then joined the U.S. operations of Baidu, the Chinese Big Tech company behind the country’s leading search engine. By 2015, he’d become head of the company’s autonomous driving division in the U.S.

Peng calls Baidu a “magnet” that attracted talented engineers

The world’s consumers are ready for robotaxis. James Peng of Pony AI wants to make sure they’re riding in his