Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- China’s robotaxi initiative is causing concerns among drivers about their employment security, but experts argue that the technology is creating new job opportunities.
- Baidu’s self-driving transportation hailing platform, Apollo Go, plans to increase its fleet of robotaxis from 400 to 1,000 by the end of the year, indicating growth in the autonomous driving sector.
- Experts predict that while autonomous mobility will gradually develop, it will not result in the simultaneous loss of all driver positions, and governments and education systems can work to transition drivers to alternative occupations.
Detailed news
Drivers are having concerns regarding their employment security as a result of China’s robotaxi initiative; however, experts assert that the technology is already generating new employment opportunities.
China opened 32,000 kilometers of public test roads and issued 16,000 test licenses for autonomous vehicles on Tuesday. In June, the government also authorized nine domestic manufacturers, including BYD and Nio, to commence the testing of conditionally automated driving technologies on specific public roads. Elon Musk intends to obtain regulatory sanction for Tesla’s Full-Self Driving technology by the conclusion of the current year.
However, the aforementioned actions have resulted in a significant number of Chinese social media users asserting that autonomous driving is either displacing drivers or stealing their rice containers.
Apollo Go, Baidu’s self-driving transportation hailing platform, currently operates approximately 400 robotaxis in Wuhan, its greatest operational region. The company intends to increase this number to 1,000 by the end of the year. According to Robin Li, the CEO of Baidu, the company’s market share in Wuhan’s ride-hailing sector is only approximately 1%.
On August 22, Li stated during the company’s quarterly earnings call that scaling will be an incremental process that could last for many years.
According to media reports, the Apollo Go service became so popular that taxi drivers petitioned Wuhan’s transport authority to restrict its use.
The Apollo Go app indicated that a 16-minute robotaxi journey within the southern suburb of Beijing would cost 10.36 yuan ($1.46), which is approximately half the 20 yuan fare listed by ride-hailing apps, which have the ability to summon taxis.
The creation of new employment opportunities
Experts predict that autonomous mobility will develop incrementally, despite the abundance of headlines.
“You will not lose all of your positions simultaneously.” Mohit Sharma, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research, stated that the transition phase will be gradual, occurring on a region-by-region basis.
He also suggested that governments could work with transportation companies to transition drivers to alternative occupations, and education systems could prepare the next generation for the careers of the future.
According to a spokesperson for Apollo Go, the organization is dedicated to the development of new employment opportunities within the ecosystem. The firm stated that roles such as data annotation and system monitoring and testing are included.
Wang Juan, who has been employed as an on-road testing operator at Apollo Go for approximately two years, disclosed to CNBC that she made the decision to enter the industry due to her enthusiasm for it. Operators of autonomous vehicles conduct on-road testing and provide feedback on the issues they encounter during the testing process to facilitate optimization.
She was previously employed at an automobile manufacturer; however, she perceived that her career was stagnant there. Instead, she eagerly accepted the opportunity to work for Apollo Go.
“Extremely difficult.” “It is significantly different from my previous position,” she stated in Mandarin when discussing her current position, as translated by CNBC. “My objective in this position is to identify the challenges and complications associated with autonomous vehicles.”
The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association’s CEO, Jeff Farrah, stated that the industry is “generating a diverse array of new, high-paying jobs” in the United States. He stated that these positions encompass dispatchers, terminal operators, mapping specialists, remote assistance operators, and service technicians.
“Workers are indispensable to the technology, despite the fact that autonomous vehicles (AVs) execute all phases of the driving process.” “It is also crucial to bear in mind that the disability community will be able to secure new employment opportunities as a result of the enhanced accessibility benefits of AVs,” Farrah stated.
Sharma concurred that innovation will “create more jobs and new jobs because of the technology,” despite the fact that there is always some job displacement when new technology enters the market. Some of the opportunities identified by Sharma include cybersecurity, software development, and vehicle testing and validation.
“Autonomous driving will undoubtedly eliminate the need for drivers in the long term.” However, there is currently a paucity of chauffeurs. He stated, “Certainly, the taxi companies will benefit from this.”
Source : CNBC News
