*

Gulf authorities have set targets for self-driving cars to

be on

their roads

*

Baidu ( BIDU ), Pony.ai and WeRide ( WRD ) are all expanding into the

region

*

Tesla has also said it wants to expand into Saudi Arabia

By Zhang Yan

ABU DHABI, May 29 (Reuters) - If you're a Chinese

robotaxi company, the Gulf has become the place to be,

attractive for a regulatory environment that is embracing the

technology and robust demand for ride-hailing services.

Their enthusiasm has been evident in a flurry of recently

announced expansion plans. This week, Pony.ai became

the third Chinese robotaxi company after rivals Baidu ( BIDU )

and WeRide ( WRD ) to unveil an agreement with Dubai's Roads and

Transport Authority in the United Arab Emirates.

It plans to start trialling its vehicles in the city this

year with full driverless operations slated to start in 2026.

WeRide ( WRD ) also said this week it would be expanding into Saudi

Arabia, where it has been testing its vehicles in cities like

Riyadh, adding that it expects commercial services to start in

late 2025.

That follows its launch of fully driverless robotaxi trials

in the UAE's Abu Dhabi this month with commercial rides due to

be rolled out from the end of June. It also soon plans to launch

in Dubai.

Baidu ( BIDU ) outlined plans in March to deploy "dozens" of

robotaxis in partnership with UAE-based Autogo in Abu Dhabi with

a goal to start commercial operations by 2026. It also aims to

start trials in Dubai this year.

The UAE "is relatively open but they are also careful and

pragmatic on details," said Zhang Liang, a general manager in

Baidu's ( BIDU ) autonomous driving unit Apollo, who oversees European

and the Middle East markets.

"We are actually happy to see positive and active

competition and we won't be afraid of such competition," he said

at the World New Energy Vehicle Congress in Abu Dhabi last week.

Worried about worsening traffic congestion and a shortage of

taxi and ride-hailing services that largely rely on migrant

workers for their drivers, Dubai has set a goal of having 25% of

its daily transportation be smart and driverless by 2030.

Abu Dhabi's target is 25% of total trips by 2040 while

Saudi Arabia is aiming for 15% by 2030.

"Middle East and this kind of market, they already have the

infrastructure, they have the capital, they have the ambition,

which is very important. So that's why everybody is queuing up

here," said Thaha Muhammed Abdul Kareem, a Qatar-based

independent consultant.

Both Pony.ai and WeRide ( WRD ) have partnered with Uber ( UBER )

in the region so their vehicles can be ordered through the Uber ( UBER )

app.

FUTURE US-CHINA BATTLEGROUND?

The Gulf may become the region where Chinese and U.S.

robotaxis go head to head for the first time.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a Gulf tour with

U.S. President Donald Trump this month that he would take

Cybercab robotaxis to Saudi Arabia, although he didn't mention a

timeframe.

At present, however, Waymo is the only U.S. firm to run

uncrewed robotaxi services carrying paying passengers. Tesla

plans to launch a trial in Austin, Texas by the end of June,

aiming to scale up to about a thousand vehicles within a few

months.

Its Chinese rivals have more experience.

Baidu's ( BIDU ) Zhang said the company was confident it could do

well abroad, citing how its vehicles had completed 10 million

trips in China as of March without a serious traffic accident.

The search engine giant has been running its Apollo Go

robotaxi services commercially in several Chinese cities since

2022. The vehicles have so-called 4 autonomy - which means they

are driverless but can travel only in certain areas. Those areas

can, however, be quite large with the city of Wuhan, for

example, making more than 3,000 km of public roads available for

robotaxi use.

"This year marks the first year for Apollo to go abroad

officially," Zhang said. The company plans to make forays into

Europe and Southeast Asia, he added without providing a

timeframe.

Pony.ai, which has a fleet of 300 robotaxis in China, said

long term it hopes to integrate its robotaxis with Dubai's metro

and tram routes.

Backed by Japan's Toyota ( TM ), Pony.ai sees this year as

its inaugural year for large-scale commercial deployment and

aims to ramp up its fleet globally to thousands of vehicles in

the next two years. It also has test permits in the United

States, South Korea and Luxembourg.

WeRide ( WRD ) said it has begun "public operation" of its

robotaxi GXR minivan in several Chinese cities as well as Zurich

and Abu Dhabi. It partnered with Uber ( UBER ) in May to expand into 15

cities in the next five years and says that in addition to the

Middle East, Singapore, Japan and Europe face driver shortages

in the transportation sector, making them key target markets.