CaoCao's Robotaxi Fleet Aims for Global Scale After Impressive Demo

HANGZHOU, China – April 23, 2026 – A vision of the future of urban transport rolled quietly through the streets of Hangzhou this week as CaoCao Inc., the mobility arm of automotive giant Geely Holding Group, hosted approximately 1,000 international guests for a firsthand experience of its Robotaxi service. The event, held on April 22, was more than just a series of test drives; it was a bold statement of intent, showcasing a system designed for safety, stability, and, most importantly, massive scale.

Throughout the day, guests were ferried through real-world city traffic. The autonomous vehicles navigated complex intersections, yielded to pedestrians, and smoothly handled merging traffic, converting initial apprehension into confidence. “This is the future. I feel really safe!” one guest exclaimed, a sentiment echoed by many who found the ride surprisingly comfortable and relaxed. The quiet hum of the electric vehicle, combined with its precise, non-aggressive driving style, offered a compelling glimpse into a driverless world.

But behind the impressive demonstration lies a far deeper strategy that sets CaoCao apart in the crowded and fiercely competitive autonomous vehicle (AV) space. The company is not merely developing software; it is building a complete, vertically integrated ecosystem that it believes is the key to winning the long-term race for autonomous mobility.

Beyond the Test Drive: A Vertically Integrated Strategy

Unlike many competitors who retrofit existing car models with autonomous hardware, CaoCao's approach is built from the ground up. As Geely's primary platform for Robotaxi operations, it leverages the parent company's formidable manufacturing and R&D capabilities to create purpose-built vehicles. This ground-up design allows for seamless integration of sensors, computing systems, and redundant safety mechanisms, creating a more reliable and cost-effective platform.

Industry analysis suggests this approach can reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by over 36% compared to retrofitted vehicles, a critical advantage in an industry where profitability has remained elusive. This integrated model, which CaoCao describes as its “three-pillar” ecosystem, combines “intelligent purpose-built vehicles + intelligent driving technology + intelligent operations.”

This operational pillar is where CaoCao's decade of experience as a ride-hailing provider becomes a significant asset. The company possesses a vast repository of data on traffic patterns and rider behavior across 163 cities in China and 42 countries. This real-world data provides an invaluable training ground for its AI driving models and gives its dispatch algorithms a practical maturity that is difficult for pure technology startups to replicate. This holistic approach signals a shift in the AV race from a pure technology challenge to a complex logistical and operational one.

The Race for China's Autonomous Roads

CaoCao's demonstration comes at a pivotal moment for China's Robotaxi market, which is projected to explode into a $120 billion industry by 2030. Strong government support for AI and autonomous technology has helped China's market value surpass that of the U.S., and the gap is expected to widen. The competition is intense.

While CaoCao's current fleet of 100 vehicles in Hangzhou is a significant milestone, it operates in a landscape with established giants. Baidu's Apollo Go, widely seen as China's answer to Waymo, has already deployed over 700 robotaxis and completed millions of rides. Other major players like Pony.ai and WeRide are also rapidly expanding their fleets and international presence. Pony.ai plans to operate over 3,000 vehicles by the end of 2026, while WeRide is active in over 30 cities globally.

However, CaoCao is betting that its unique strategy will enable it to scale rapidly and efficiently. The company recently became the first in Hangzhou to be granted a permit for fully driverless road testing, a critical regulatory hurdle cleared on April 1, 2026. This allows the company to begin removing safety drivers, marking a new phase of operations and moving it closer to widespread commercial deployment.

Reimagining the Urban Landscape

Perhaps the most tangible piece of CaoCao's strategy is its investment in physical infrastructure. The company has launched what it calls the world's first Green Intelligent Mobility Hub in Hangzhou. This is not merely a charging station but a fully automated service center designed to keep the Robotaxi fleet running with maximum efficiency.

A key innovation at the hub is an automated battery-swapping system that can replace a depleted battery with a fully charged one in just 60 seconds. This virtually eliminates downtime for charging, a major operational bottleneck for electric fleets. The hubs also feature automated vehicle cleaning, intelligent dispatching to optimize fleet movements, and automated billing.

This infrastructure is central to making large-scale Robotaxi services both sustainable and profitable. Looking ahead, these hubs are designed with interfaces for Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, tying into Geely’s broader “sky-ground-space” mobility vision, which aims to connect ground transport with low-Earth-orbit satellites for precision navigation and urban air mobility.

From Hangzhou to the World

With its technology validated and its operational model taking shape, CaoCao is setting its sights on global expansion. The company has announced an ambitious “Ten Years, One Hundred Cities, One Hundred Billion RMB” strategy, aiming to deploy 100,000 robotaxis and achieve a gross transaction value of RMB 100 billion over the next decade. Its existing global footprint in traditional ride-hailing provides a launchpad for this expansion.

Initial steps are already underway. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to explore deploying robotaxis in the UAE capital. This move follows a trend of Chinese AV companies aggressively expanding into the Middle East.

As the international guests departed Hangzhou, leaving with photos and a story of their driverless ride, it was clear that CaoCao’s event was more than a showcase. It was a declaration that the company is ready to move from development to deployment, leveraging Geely's industrial might and its own operational expertise to build a scalable, end-to-end mobility service. The race to define the future of transportation is far from over, but CaoCao has firmly established itself as a system-level leader with a comprehensive plan to compete on a global stage.