Finding
Autonomy has split into two industries: US companies lead driverless service and AI models, Chinese companies lead the volume of drones, robots and humanoids
Waymo runs paid driverless service in more US cities than any rival, and Tesla began its Austin robotaxi service in June 2025. In China, Baidu Apollo Go, Pony.ai and WeRide operate driverless fleets in several cities and are expanding to the Middle East and Europe. DJI dominates drones, and Unitree and UBTech ship more humanoids than any Western maker.
Hardware cost explains much of the split. Chinese humanoids and robotaxi kits use domestic lidar (Hesai, RoboSense), actuators and driving chips, which keeps unit prices well below US equivalents. US companies bet on scale through software: Tesla runs camera-only FSD across its fleet, Waymo's Driver, NVIDIA's Alpamayo models and Mobileye's stacks are licensed or deployed across OEMs, and Figure and Tesla train humanoids with vision-language-action models.
Licensing is the fastest-growing channel. Mobileye, Huawei, Momenta, Horizon Robotics, NVIDIA, Wayve and Nuro sell driving stacks to carmakers that will not build their own, and Uber has signed robotaxi supply deals with several of them. In industrial robots, Fanuc, ABB, Yaskawa and KUKA hold the installed base, while Estun and Inovance gain share inside China.
Vehicles
Autonomous vehicle operators and builders
Linked names have a full profile. See Robotaxi Fleets and Robotruck Fleets.
| Company | HQ | Vehicles | Application | Status, late 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waymo | US | Jaguar I-PACE, Zeekr-built Ojai; Hyundai IONIQ 5 next | Driverless robotaxi | Paid service in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and more |
| Tesla | US | Model Y, Cybercab | Robotaxi, FSD (Supervised) | Austin robotaxi service since June 2025; Cybercab production starting at Giga Texas |
| Zoox | US | Purpose-built bidirectional robotaxi | Driverless robotaxi | Las Vegas public service; San Francisco and Austin testing |
| Baidu Apollo Go | China | RT6 | Driverless robotaxi | Wuhan, Beijing and other Chinese cities; Dubai and Abu Dhabi |
| Pony.ai | China | Gen-7 robotaxi (Toyota, BAIC, GAC) | Driverless robotaxi, trucks | Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen; Middle East and Europe pilots |
| WeRide | China | GXR robotaxi, Robobus, Robovan | Robotaxi, shuttles, delivery | China, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Switzerland |
| May Mobility | US | Toyota Sienna | Driverless shuttle service | Peachtree Corners (Georgia), Arlington (Texas); Uber and Lyft partnerships |
| Aurora Innovation | US | Volvo VNL Autonomous, PACCAR, International | Driverless trucking | Dallas-Houston, Fort Worth-El Paso-Phoenix |
| Kodiak AI | US | Class 8 tractors | Driverless trucking | Permian Basin with Atlas Energy Solutions |
| Einride | Sweden | Cabless electric pods | Autonomous freight | Sweden and the US |
| Volvo Autonomous Solutions | Sweden | Volvo trucks and haulers | Hub-to-hub freight, quarries, mines | US (with Aurora Driver) and Norway |
Aerial
Drone and eVTOL manufacturers
See Drones and UAVs.
| Company | HQ | Platforms | Application | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJI | China | Mavic, Matrice, Agras, FlyCart | Consumer, inspection, agriculture, delivery | Global volume leader; US restrictions tightening |
| Autel Robotics | China | EVO, Alpha | Inspection, public safety | Second-tier Chinese supplier |
| XAG | China | P-series, V-series | Agricultural spraying | China, Southeast Asia, Latin America |
| Skydio | US | X10 | Inspection, public safety, defense | US-made; autonomy-first design |
| Zipline | US | Platform 2 | Medical and retail delivery | US, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria |
| Wing | US | Wing delivery drone | Parcel and food delivery | Walmart partnership in US metros; Alphabet-owned |
| Joby Aviation | US | S4 | Air taxi | FAA type certification in progress; Dubai launch planned |
| Archer Aviation | US | Midnight | Air taxi | UAE launch plans; Stellantis manufactures |
| Beta Technologies | US | ALIA CX300 and A250 | Cargo, medical, passenger | Conventional-takeoff CX300 first |
| EHang | China | EH216-S | Pilotless air taxi, sightseeing | Type, production and operating certificates in China |
| AutoFlight | China | Prosperity, CarryAll | Passenger and cargo eVTOL | CarryAll cargo type-certified in China |
| Aridge (XPeng affiliate) | China | Land Aircraft Carrier | Ground vehicle carrying a two-seat eVTOL | Guangzhou factory; deliveries planned for 2026 |
Robots
Industrial, mobile, field and humanoid robots
See Humanoid Robots and Industrial Robots.
| Company | HQ | Platforms | Application | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fanuc | Japan | Industrial arms, cobots | Factory automation | Largest installed base of industrial robots |
| ABB Robotics | Switzerland | IRB arms, AMRs | Factory automation | Being sold to SoftBank |
| Yaskawa | Japan | Motoman arms | Welding, handling | Servo drives in-house |
| KUKA | Germany | KR arms, LBR iiwa cobots | Automotive body shops | Owned by Midea (China) |
| Estun | China | Industrial arms | General industry | Leading Chinese arm maker by volume |
| Inovance | China | SCARA and six-axis arms, servo drives | Electronics, batteries | Also a major EV inverter supplier |
| Geek+ | China | AMRs, shelf-to-person robots | Warehousing | Global deployments |
| AutoStore | Norway | Cube storage robots | Goods-to-person | Grid systems sold through integrators |
| Amazon Robotics | US | Proteus, Sequoia, Sparrow | Amazon fulfillment | Over one million robots in Amazon facilities |
| Caterpillar | US | MineStar Command | Autonomous haulage | Mines in Australia, the Americas |
| Komatsu | Japan | FrontRunner AHS | Autonomous haulage | Mines worldwide |
| John Deere | US | Autonomous 8R and 9RX tractors, See & Spray | Agriculture | Retrofit autonomy kits |
| Company | HQ | Platforms | Application | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Optimus | US | Optimus humanoid | Factory work at Tesla, then external sale | Pilot line at Fremont; volume production planned at Giga Texas |
| Figure AI | US | Figure 03 | Logistics, manufacturing, home | BMW Spartanburg pilot; Helix vision-language-action model |
| Agility Robotics | US | Digit | Tote handling | Paid deployments at GXO |
| Boston Dynamics | US | Electric Atlas, Spot, Stretch | Automotive plants, inspection, truck unloading | Hyundai-owned; Atlas pilots at Hyundai Metaplant |
| Apptronik | US | Apollo | Logistics, manufacturing | Mercedes-Benz and GXO pilots |
| 1X | Norway / US | NEO | Home | Consumer preorders |
| Unitree Robotics | China | G1, H2 humanoids; Go2, B2 quadrupeds | Research, education, inspection | Lowest-price humanoids on the market |
| UBTech Robotics | China | Walker S2 | Automotive and electronics factories | Pilots at BYD, Geely (Zeekr), Dongfeng; battery self-swap |
| AgiBot | China | Yuanzheng A2, Lingxi X2 | Manufacturing, retail | Shanghai; large training-data factory |
| XPeng | China | IRON humanoid | Retail and factory work | Uses XPeng Turing chips; volume production planned for late 2026 |
| Fourier | China | GR-3 | Rehabilitation, care | Shanghai |
| ANYbotics | Switzerland | ANYmal quadruped | Inspection in energy and process plants | ATEX-rated version |
Driving stacks
Driving stacks licensed to OEMs
| Company | HQ | Stack | Domains | Customers and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobileye | Israel | EyeQ SoCs, SuperVision, Chauffeur, Drive | Passenger cars, robotaxis | Volkswagen ID. Buzz AD robotaxi; Intel-controlled |
| Huawei Qiankun ADS | China | ADS 4 driver assistance | Passenger cars | AITO, Luxeed, Stelato, Maextro, Shangjie; also sold to Dongfeng, GAC, Changan |
| Momenta | China | Mpilot, Momenta R6 robotaxi stack | Passenger cars, robotaxis | Toyota, GM, Mercedes-Benz, SAIC supplier; Uber robotaxi partner |
| Horizon Robotics | China | HSD on Journey 6 | Passenger cars | Supplier to Chinese and joint-venture brands |
| Baidu Apollo | China | Apollo ADFM | Robotaxi, passenger cars | Licenses to Lyft and PostBus (Europe) deployments |
| NVIDIA DRIVE | US | DRIVE AV software, Alpamayo models | Passenger cars, robotaxis | Mercedes-Benz CLA; Uber robotaxi fleet program |
| Wayve | UK | Embodied AI driver | Passenger cars | Nissan ProPilot from 2027; Uber London trials |
| Nuro | US | Nuro Driver | Robotaxi licensing | Lucid Gravity robotaxi for Uber |
| Oxa | UK | Oxa Driver | Industrial, logistics, buses | Formerly Oxbotica |
Sources
Sources and scope
- Scope
- Autonomy and Robotics Manufacturers
- Sources
- Company releases and operating disclosures (2025-2026); local permits; AustinIO
- Updated
- October 2026