Shenzhen’s shift into robotaxis leaves drivers by the wayside

Chinese tech hub expands driverless vehicles as growing automation drive threatens gig economy workforce.

- 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.

“It’s a capitalist operation, driven by personal gain, aiming to monopolise the industry,” said a Shenzhen taxi driver surnamed Dai, who drives for the dominant ride-hailing app Didi, of the robotaxis.

“What will become of” the families who rely on China’s millions of taxi drivers, he added. “It’s incredibly cruel.”

Shenzhen was one of the engines of southern China’s manufacturing boom, drawing migrant workers in the 1980s and 1990s to a special economic zone that churned out low-cost goods and earned the region its reputation as the world’s factory floor.

In the decades that followed, it transitioned to higher-value technology and swelled into a megacity, hosting leading companies, including Huawei, Tencent, BYD and DJI, and an economy that has now surpassed that of neighbouring Hong Kong.