Autopilot will push taxi drivers out of the labor market, but will create new vacancies

In areas of China with a high proportion of robotic taxis being tested, drivers are already expressing their dissatisfaction with the emergence of “automated competitors,” but Counterpoint Research experts are convinced that autopilot will contribute to the creation of new jobs in related areas, and therefore its spread throughout the market is not a uniquely negative factor for applicants.

Image source: BYD

Last Tuesday, as CNBC notes, Chinese regulators issued 16,000 new licenses to test driverless taxis on the country’s roads and opened 32,000 km of public roads for these purposes. In June, BYD and Nio received permission for such activities. The American Tesla expects to receive permission for its automatically controlled cars with activated FSD complex on the roads of China.

With 400 automated taxis in Wuhan, Baidu has only 1% of the local passenger transport market. According to CEO Robin Li, the expansion of robotic taxis will be gradual and will stretch over several years. Representatives of classic taxi companies in Wuhan have called on municipal authorities to limit the use of robotic taxis in the city, as they force drivers to lose their jobs. In the suburbs of Beijing, prices for rides in robotic taxis are approximately two times lower than in cars with a live driver.

According to representatives of Counterpoint Research, the process of replacing taxi drivers with robots will be gradual, varying in speed from one region to another. According to experts, governments of different countries may think about professional retraining programs for drivers leaving the market, and the educational system is capable of training specialists in other profiles that will be required to service robotic taxis. Baidu representatives noted that the company needs employees who would be involved in transport dispatching, testing, and annotating data processed by on-board systems. In the US, as industry representatives note, the transition to automated taxis is creating a need for vehicle maintenance and mapping specialists, help desk operators and dispatchers. New employment opportunities in this area will also open up for people with disabilities. New vacancies related to information security and software testing will also appear in the transport industry.

Considering that there is currently a shortage of drivers in the taxi industry, the transition to autopilot will solve labor market problems to a greater extent than create new ones, according to Counterpoint Research experts.