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New robotaxi index ranks Waymo first, China's trio second to fourth

June 17, 2026 at 13:39 EDT

Robotics
Sales & Business

A newly published robotaxi composite index, "The Road to Autonomy Indices" from AV research and advisory firm Autnmy AI, keeps Waymo in first place with 76.9 points, while China's Baidu Apollo Go, Pony.ai and WeRide take the second through fourth spots, finishing ahead of Tesla and Zoox.

June 17, 2026 · The Road to Autonomy Indices

Waymo Edges Out China's Apollo Go Atop the First Robotaxi Ranking

An AI-scored index of real paid operations puts Waymo first at 76.9 — but Baidu's Apollo Go trails by less than a point, signaling a tightening U.S.–China contest.

0.9

point gap between 1st and 2nd place

22M+

cumulative Apollo Go rides logged

11+

U.S. cities served by Waymo

70%

of score weighted on revenue, scale & ops

Index Scores — out of 100

Column height is proportional to each company's score.

76.9

Waymo

76.0

Apollo Go

55.8

Pony.ai

52.6

WeRide

40.4

Tesla

33.0

Zoox

Waymo — Maturity & UX leader

First fully driverless commercial service (Phoenix, 2020). Hundreds of thousands of paid trips weekly across 11+ cities; riders praise it as smooth and reliable, with a claimed safety record above human drivers.

Chinese players — Cheaper & scaling fast

Apollo Go logged 3.2M driverless rides in Q1 2026 alone and reached Dubai via Uber; WeRide runs Uber's first international driverless service in Abu Dhabi. Lower cost and government backing fuel rapid global expansion.

The verdict: Waymo leads on maturity and rider experience, while Chinese rivals win on cost and scalability — and at less than a point apart, the U.S.–China robotaxi race is essentially a dead heat.

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