A Funding Spike in The Robotaxi Industry, That’s A Green Sign!

Autonomy is the future and the global robotaxi industry is expected to increase at a rate of 168.29% annually from 2020 to 2025. Robotaxi is a concept of autonomous transport that aims at providing on-demand ride-sharing services. The initial deployment of these vehicles is expected to be at airports, industrial parks, pedestrian areas, and other commercial places.

To gain market position, major robotaxi manufacturers are making strategic moves to expand their business, enhance their product portfolio, and increase their sales. One of the big players, a start-up called Cruise, backed by General Motors announced that Walmart and institutional investors have joined the funding, boosting the total to $2.75 billion. This puts Cruise in a position of being the industry's best-funded autonomous tech developer.

The initially decided funding round which had Walmart also included Microsoft that, according to Cruise, brought in $2 billion. The San-Francisco-based robotaxi company, in total, had an increase of $750 million through other investors. At the moment, Cruise is valued at more than $30 billion. It also has other industry giants like Honda and Softbank as investors and partners.

John Furner, Walmart's president, and CEO for the U.S said in a blog post, "This investment is a marker for us. It shows our commitment to bringing the benefit of self-driving cars to our customers and business." This statement comes after both the companies began working on a delivery pilot program in Scottsdale, Arizona, in November of last year. "We've been impressed with Cruise's differentiated business model, unique technology, and unmatched driverless testing", he added.

"Self-driving cars will make transportation safer, cleaner, and more accessible for everyone. Making this happen requires a clear mission, world-class talent, great partners, and a lot of capital", said Cruise in a statement.

Along with Cruise, other companies who are stepping up their robotaxi game are companies like Ford, Volvo, Toyota, Tesla, Hyundai, and Nvidia.

Toyota has kept its plans for self-driving cars hush-hush. The Japanese company planned to offer a limited ride-hailing service in Tokyo during the 2020 Summer Olympics, but it got pushed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has recently invested $400 million in Pony.ai, a self-driving startup based in China and the US. Toyota also agreed to invest $500 million in a joint self-driving project with Uber.

Hyundai Motor's partnered with public transit technology firm Via to form a joint self-driving venture called Motional to launch a shared robotaxi service in the U.S, sometime this year. The company plans to use Via's technology that powers booking, routing, passenger, and vehicle assignment.

The concept of fully autonomous vehicles will benefit society in many ways like improving the movement of people and products, reducing serious traffic issues, etc. While it might take a few years for autonomous vehicles to show their true potential, with fleets on the move, the robotaxi industry is developing due to companies and market pioneers who are into innovation. Companies are truly investing in fulfilling this promise and governments are also on board this revolution. So it's just a matter of time when we witness many exciting steps and breakthroughs in the robotaxi industry.