Diverging Autonomy: Waymo Hits 500K Weekly Rides While China Deploys 3,800+ Driverless Mining Trucks
创业邦 · wechat · 2026-09-02
China and the US are taking divergent paths in autonomy. Waymo now covers ten US metros with over 500,000 paid rides weekly and a 4,000-vehicle fleet, plus California's largest-ever expansion permit across 18 counties. China is prioritizing cargo: the country's first 100-ton-class fully electric bidirectional driverless mining truck, the AT150, began operating in Inner Mongolia with 65% lower energy cost per unit than diesel.
The article attributes the split to China's far higher urban traffic density making L4 passenger robotaxis harder, plus the Cruise dragging incident that halted its US operations. Meanwhile China's 58.7 billion tons of annual freight rely on 11.68 million trucks and an aging, shrinking driver pool, pushing mines and ports toward automation first.
Policy and capital are converging: a seven-ministry directive requires ≥60% intelligent coal capacity by 2026; operational driverless mining trucks grew from 2,500 (end-2024) to 3,800+ (end-2025), projected to top 10,000 by 2026-2027. Subsidies compress the 1M RMB premium per truck. Truck maker Lingyi Automobile raised funding from CATL-affiliated capital, Momenta, Zijin Mining and others, forming a battery-plus-mining industrial synergy model.
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