In downtown San Francisco — and 10 other US cities nowadays — you can easily hail a driverless Waymo taxi on your smartphone. For a first-time passenger, they say, it typically takes about two minutes to transition from astonishment to boredom.
Much the same experience can be had in Wuhan and more than 20 other Chinese cities, where you can jump into one of Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis. Riders in London will soon be able to compare the rival US and Chinese services when both pilot autonomous cars in the twisty British capital later this year.
Yet history shows that companies with the best tech do not automatically win; those that can deploy nearly-as-good technology at speed, scale and competitive cost most often prevail.
A recent report from the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) argues that US companies still enjoy a commanding lead in the innovation game, but their Chinese rivals are speeding ahead in the deployment race.
The cost of a robotaxi in China is about $40,000. In the US, it is between $130,000 and $200,000.
The USA driverless service will be restricted to US companies due to bipartisan tariff and potential new law banning Chinese vehicles.
The USA & China will battle internationally to see which driverless version dominates. China will have a cost advantage.
The US is going to lose this fight. We will soon be isolated with Chinese cars in both Canada and Mexico. We had better find a solution fast or our domestic companies will see their export markets whither and die.
Hawkwin
Who would love to find a way to import a Chinese EV from Canada.
Honda shelves $11B Canada EV factory as its electric retreat deepens https://electrek.co/2026/05/05/honda-shelves-11b-canada-ev-plant-electric-retreat/ Honda is shelving its massive C$15 billion ($11 billion) EV and battery manufacturing hub in Ontario, Canada, according to a new report from Nikkei. The move escalates what was initially framed as a temporary pause into what increasingly looks like an indefinite retreat.
The decision is the latest domino to fall in Honda’s accelerating withdrawal from electrification, which has already included a $15.7 billion writedown, the cancellation of three key EV models for the US market, and the death of its Sony Afeela partnership
When Honda announced the Alliston, Ontario project in April 2024, it was billed as the company’s most ambitious EV commitment yet. The plan called for a new EV assembly plant capable of producing 240,000 vehicles per year, a 36 GWh battery factory, and cathode material processing facilities through joint ventures with POSCO Future M and Asahi Kasei. Production was targeted for 2028.
By May 2025, Honda paused the project for approximately two years, citing tariff uncertainty under the Trump administration and softening EV demand. The company said at the time it would revisit the timeline in 2027…
The shelving is a blow to Canada’s EV manufacturing ambitions. The Alliston project was the centerpiece of the country’s strategy to build a domestic EV supply chain, announced alongside billions in government subsidies.
In late 2025, Inceptio Technology announced it had logged over 100 million cumulative commercial autonomous miles on Chinese highways
China’s central government has laid down clear rules for autonomous freight, and those rules are deliberately conservative.
I assume autonomous driving within China is easier to implement because it is a top down government system. The US is a patchwork of individual states slowing adoption.
The body panels are plastic. I’m sure the CyberCab frame has the same outstanding crash worthiness of all Tesla vehicles.
{{ AI Overview
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Tesla vehicles (Model 3, Y, S, X) consistently achieve top-tier safety ratings globally due to their rigid structural design, low center of gravity, and, in many cases, 5-star ratings from NHTSA and Euro NCAP. Their unique, engine-free architecture with a heavy battery pack in the floor maximizes crumple zones and minimizes the risk of rollover or intrusion into the cabin. }}
I’m not sure what your point is here. Those models are made with metal panels. They certainly absorb at least some of an impact. A plastic body panel? Not really. Especially a door panel, I would think.