A New Robotaxi Scorecard Puts China on Top — and Waymo a Close Second
A new AI-built robotaxi index, the Road to Autonomy Index, ranks Baidu Apollo Go #1 globally with Waymo #2 — three of the top four operators are Chinese, reflecting China's lead in scale and commercial deployment.
TL;DR — A new robotaxi scorecard, the Road to Autonomy Index (covered June 2026), ranks Baidu's Apollo Go #1 in the world, narrowly ahead of Waymo, with China's Pony.ai and WeRide outranking Tesla — a snapshot of China's lead in robotaxi scale and commercial reach.
The robotaxi race has long felt like a two-country story. A new ranking now tries to score it — and China comes out on top, if only just.
The scorecard
The Road to Autonomy Index, built by AV-data startup Autnmy AI, ranks autonomous-vehicle companies using six factors — operations, scale, revenue, commercial partnerships, manufacturing, and safety transparency — and refreshes every 12 hours from public data, per TechCrunch and Axios. As of mid-June 2026:
| Rank | Company | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baidu Apollo Go | China |
| 2 | Waymo | US |
| 3 | Pony.ai | China |
| 4 | WeRide | China |
| 5 | Tesla | US |
Three of the top four are Chinese — and operations, scale, and revenue make up 70% of the score.
Why China ranks so high
Scale and global commercial reach. Baidu's Apollo Go topped 300,000 weekly rides in Q4 2025 and logged 3.4 million fully driverless trips that quarter (up more than 200% year-over-year), per CnEVPost. Apollo Go, Pony.ai and WeRide are also exporting paid service through Uber, Lyft, Bolt and Grab across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The nuance: Waymo still leads at home
"Dominance" is about global scale, not a clean sweep. Waymo is a very close #2 and the strongest US operator — in Texas in late May 2026 it ran 620 vehicles to Tesla's 69. And the index is a startup-built AI tool, not an academic authority. Its co-founder Rob Grant stressed its sourcing discipline: "We don't scrape information. If it's publicly available or if it's available under a Creative Commons license, we will use that information."
FAQ
What is the Road to Autonomy Index?
An AI-built ranking of autonomous-vehicle companies from startup Autnmy AI, scoring six factors (operations, scale, revenue, partnerships, manufacturing, safety) and updating every 12 hours from public sources. It was covered by TechCrunch and Axios in June 2026.
Who ranks #1?
Baidu's Apollo Go, narrowly ahead of Waymo. Pony.ai (#3) and WeRide (#4) — both Chinese — outrank Tesla (#5).
Does this mean China has "won" robotaxis?
Not outright. China leads on scale and global commercial deployment, but Waymo is a close #2 and leads on US fleet size (620 vehicles vs Tesla's 69 in Texas, late May 2026).
How big is Apollo Go?
It topped 300,000 weekly rides in Q4 2025 with 3.4 million fully driverless trips that quarter, up more than 200% year-over-year.
Sources: TechCrunch, Axios, CnEVPost.
Image: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
← Back to all posts