China's robotaxi push sparks job loss fears among drivers. Experts say it can create new jobs too

China's robotaxi push is sparking job security fears among 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, the government also greenlit nine domestic automakers, including BYD and Nio, to begin testing conditionally automated driving technologies on certain public roads. Elon Musk is looking to get regulatory approval for Tesla's Full-Self Driving technology by the end of this year.

But all that action has led to many Chinese social media users saying autonomous driving is "snatching rice bowls" of drivers, or putting them out of work.

Baidu's self-driving ride hailing platform Apollo Go has around 400 robotaxis operating in Wuhan — its largest operational region — and plans to increase that to 1,000 by the end of the year. Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, said the firm's share of Wuhan's ride-hailing market is only about 1%.

"Scaling will be a gradual process and it could take many years," Li said during the firm's quarterly earnings call on Aug. 22.

The Apollo Go service became so popular that taxi drivers petitioned Wuhan's transport authority to limit the use of the service, according to media reports.

A check on the Apollo Go app showed a 16-minute robotaxi ride within the southern suburb of Beijing suburb would cost 10.36 yuan ($1.46), about half the 20 yuan fare listed by ride-hailing apps, which can call taxis.

Despite the flurry of headlines, experts say autonomous mobility will mature gradually.

"You will not lose all the jobs in one go. It will be a slow transition phase area by area, region by region," said Mohit Sharma, research analyst at Counterpoint Research.

He added that