The Robotaxi Race Has a Scoreboard Now — and It Reads, Mostly, in Chinese
A new index tried to settle the robotaxi question with numbers. Baidu came out on top, Waymo a hair behind, and three of the top four were Chinese — a snapshot of a race the US no longer clearly leads.
TL;DR — Someone finally put a number on the robotaxi race. The new Road to Autonomy Index ranks Baidu's Apollo Go first in the world and Waymo a close second — with three of the top four operators Chinese, a quiet redrawing of who's winning.
For years the robotaxi contest was argued in vibes — a viral video here, a safety scare there. In June 2026 a startup tried to settle it with a scoreboard, and the result is a story in itself.
What the board says
The Road to Autonomy Index, built by Autnmy AI, scores autonomous-vehicle companies on six measures and refreshes twice a day from public records, per TechCrunch and Axios. Its mid-June order:
| Rank | Company | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baidu Apollo Go | China |
| 2 | Waymo | US |
| 3 | Pony.ai | China |
| 4 | WeRide | China |
| 5 | Tesla | US |
Baidu on top, Waymo by a whisker behind, and Pony.ai and WeRide — both Chinese — above Tesla.
How China got here
Not with flash, but with volume. Apollo Go crossed 300,000 rides a week in late 2025 and ran 3.4 million fully driverless trips in a single quarter, growing more than 200% in a year — while Chinese operators quietly export their service through Uber, Lyft, Bolt and Grab from Europe to the Gulf.
The asterisk
A scoreboard is only as honest as its sources, and this one is a young AI tool, not gospel. Its co-founder Rob Grant insists on the discipline: "We don't scrape information. If it's publicly available… we will use that information." And it flatters China's scale while underselling one fact: at home, Waymo still rules, running 620 vehicles in Texas to Tesla's 69. The race isn't over — but for the first time, the leaderboard doesn't start with an American name.
FAQ
What's the new scorecard?
The Road to Autonomy Index by Autnmy AI — an AI-built, public-data ranking of robotaxi companies, covered by TechCrunch and Axios in June 2026.
Who's winning?
Baidu's Apollo Go is #1, with Waymo a close #2; Chinese firms hold three of the top four spots.
Is the US falling behind?
On global scale, arguably — but Waymo remains a strong #2 and leads US fleet size (620 vehicles vs Tesla's 69 in Texas).
Should I trust the ranking?
Treat it as one credible signal: it's a startup-built index using public data, corroborated by independent fleet figures, not an academic authority.
Sources: TechCrunch, Axios, CnEVPost.
Image: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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