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The emerging robotaxi market is one of the most dynamic segments of the automotive industry. Berg Insight expects that the number of robotaxis will reach 1.53 million vehicles in 2036. This represents a massive growth from 6,500 robotaxis operating worldwide at the end of 2025. Total passenger fare revenues generated by commercial robotaxi services are expected to grow at a CAGR of 79.2 percent from US$ 260.0 million in 2025 to US$ 158.7 billion in 2036. Several driverless robotaxi services are available today, mainly in the US, China and the Middle East. Services have, moreover, recently been launched in Europe, South Korea and Singapore, and it is expected that additional services will be launched in more markets in the coming years.
Robotaxi technology providers bring the central technology integration layer of the robotaxi value chain. The companies develop the L4 automated driving system and determine how the software, sensors, compute platform and vehicle-control systems work together. They are also responsible for the overall system and the driving performance. “The automated driving system and the data used to train and validate the system are the main proprietary assets," said Martin Cederqvist, Senior Analyst at Berg Insight. Some providers also control mapping, simulation, validation, fleet-data infrastructure and remote assistance. Leading robotaxi technology providers include Avride, Baidu (Apollo Go), May Mobility, Mobileye, Momenta, Motional, Pony.ai, Tesla, Waymo, Wayve, WeRide and Zoox.
Mobility platform providers contribute the customer interface and demand-aggregation applications, which connect passengers with available robotaxis and manage bookings, as well as solutions for payments, pricing and customer support. They often partner with robotaxi technology providers and fleet operators to offer a complete service. “Mobility platform providers can leverage their established brands, large user bases and proprietary data on travel patterns to reach a large customer base, match supply with demand and increase vehicle utilization," said Erica Rickard, IoT analyst at Berg Insight. Leading mobility platform providers include North America-based Uber and Lyft, Europe-based Bolt as well as Chinese players such as DiDi, CaoCao Mobility and T3 Mobility.
One of the most interesting challenges in the industry is scaling robotaxi services across additional cities and geographies while achieving commercially viable unit economics. The scalability of a robotaxi business depends largely on how much of the technology and operating model can be reused across markets. End-to-end AI and large driving models have the potential to reduce the engineering work required for local deployment by reducing reliance on manually specified driving rules and improving generalization across different driving environments. At the same time, factory-integrated and purpose-built vehicles can lower vehicle costs at sufficient production volumes. The need for additional local data collection varies between markets and systems. Commercial viability depends on generating sufficient demand at fares that cover the full cost of providing the service. “The companies that successfully combine advances in AI and vehicle design, build effective partnerships, meet safety and regulatory requirements, and develop commercially viable business models will be best placed to scale across markets,” concluded Mr Cederqvist.
