China's drivers are fearful about robotaxi push. Experts say it’s going to create recent jobs

China's robotaxi offensive is causing fears amongst drivers about job security. However, experts say the technology is already creating recent jobs.

On Tuesday, China published 16,000 test licenses for autonomous vehicles and opened 32,000 kilometers of public test roads. In June, the federal government also green light Nine domestic automakers, including BYD and Nio, are starting to check conditionally automated driving technologies on certain public roads. Elon Musk goals to acquire regulatory approval for Tesla's full self-driving technology by the top of this 12 months.

But all this activity has led many Chinese social media users to assert that autonomous driving would “take away rice bowls” from drivers or cost them their jobs.

Baidu's Self-driving ride-hailing platform Apollo Go has about 400 robot taxis in operation in Wuhan, its largest area of ​​operation, and plans to extend that number to 1,000 by the top of the 12 months. Baidu CEO Robin Li said the corporate's share of Wuhan's ride-hailing market is barely about 1%.

“Scaling will be a gradual process and could take many years,” Li said throughout the company’s quarterly earnings conference call on Aug. 22.

The Apollo Go service became so popular that taxi drivers petitioned Wuhan's transportation authority to limit the usage of the service, in line with Media reports.

A review of the Apollo Go app found that a 16-minute ride in a robotaxi within the southern suburbs of Beijing costs 10.36 yuan ($1.46), about half the 20 yuan price that ride-sharing apps charge for taxis.

Despite the numerous headlines, experts consider that autonomous mobility will regularly mature.

“All jobs will not be lost at once. It will be a slow transition phase from area to area, region to region,” said Mohit Sharma, research analyst at Counterpoint Research.

He added that governments could partner with robotaxi corporations to present drivers other tasks, while education systems could train recent generations for the roles of the longer term.

An Apollo Go spokesperson said the corporate is seeking to create recent jobs within the ecosystem, which the corporate said include monitoring and testing systems and data annotation.

Wang Juan, who has been working as a road tester at Apollo Go for about two years, told CNBC she joined the industry out of interest. Road testers test autonomous vehicles and supply feedback on problems encountered during testing as a way to optimize them.

She previously worked for an automobile manufacturer but felt her profession was stagnating there, so she jumped at the chance to work for Apollo Go as a substitute.

“Very challenging. It's very different from my previous job,” she said in Mandarin about her current role, translated by CNBC. “In this role, I try to find the problems and difficulties with the autonomous cars.”

Jeff Farrah, CEO of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, said the industry is “creating a wide range of new, well-paying jobs” within the U.S. Those positions include service technicians, distant maintenance employees, mapping specialists, dispatchers and terminal operators, he said.

“Even though AVs will take over all aspects of the driving task, workers are essential to this technology. It's also important to remember that the improved accessibility benefits of AVs will help the disabled community find new employment opportunities,” Farrah said.

While recent technologies all the time result in job losses, Sharma agrees that innovations will even “create more and new jobs because of technology.” Sharma cited cybersecurity, vehicle testing and validation, and software development as among the opportunities.

“In the long run, autonomous driving will certainly replace driver jobs. But there may be already a shortage of drivers. So for taxis, [companies]you’ll be able to see that it is a bonus for them,” he said.