BEIJING — Self-driving taxis will not be a big enterprise for a minimum of 5 years, Xpeng Vice Chairman and Co-President Brian Gu mentioned Thursday.

That prediction comes as Elon Musk has promoted his imaginative and prescient of Tesla as an organization that’s creating synthetic intelligence software program for the commercialization of a robotaxi community.

Whereas robotaxis shall be transformative for mobility in the event that they turn into prevalent, “to have an actual, full-fledged business operation. I feel it is greater than 5 years away,” Gu informed reporters on the sidelines of the Beijing auto present.

“Proper now it isn’t one thing that we’re contemplating once we are launching and planning the gross sales,” he mentioned.

Xpeng, a China-based electrical automotive startup that can be promoting in Europe, has made driver-assist software program certainly one of its promoting factors.

“I feel there shall be a variety of testing,” Gu mentioned, noting that in China there may be curiosity in exhibiting off know-how and marking milestones.

Chinese language tech firms comparable to Baidu and Pony.ai have acquired permission from native authorities in elements of China to cost fares for absolutely driverless taxis. The working areas embrace a suburb of Beijing and elements of Wuhan.