Caocao Inc., the ride-hailing unit of Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group, announced on Friday plans to deploy thousands of specially designed Eva Cab robotaxis worldwide starting in 2027, positioning itself as a direct competitor to Tesla’s Cybercab in the rapidly intensifying race for the autonomous transportation market.
CEO Gong Xin revealed the timeline in an interview with Reuters at the Beijing Auto Show 2026, stating that the Eva Cab will hit the roads first in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and five cities in mainland China as early as next year, with production, deliveries, and deployment occurring "almost simultaneously." Large-scale deployment is planned for 2028, with the fleet expected to grow to 100,000 autonomous vehicles by 2030.
A Robotaxi Built from Scratch
The Eva Cab, presented at the Beijing Auto Show on Friday, is what Geely calls China's first self-developed robotaxi: a vehicle designed from the ground up for driverless operation rather than being converted from a mass-produced passenger vehicle. The cabin lacks a steering wheel and traditional controls—instead, it features face-to-face seating, sliding electric doors, and a panoramic roof.
The vehicle runs on Geely’s Level 4 autonomous driving platform, G-ASD 4.0, developed jointly with technology partner Afari. It is equipped with what Geely claims is the world's first 2,160-line digital LiDAR, capable of detecting objects at a distance of up to 600 meters, as well as Nvidia and Qualcomm computing chips providing a combined performance of over 3,000 TOPS.
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