Share Price Surges, CaoCao Accelerates Robotaxi Commercialization with Driverless Testing, Shanghai Deployment and Global Expansion Strategy
HangZhou, China, May 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CaoCao Inc. (02643.HK) is accelerating the commercialization of its Robotaxi business, marking a major step in its transformation from a traditional mobility platform into an intelligent driving services platform. With driverless testing approval in Hangzhou, planned deployment of 100 Robotaxis in Shanghai, the development of a purpose-built Robotaxi model, and strategic positioning in Hong Kong for global right-hand-drive markets, CaoCao is building a clearer and more comprehensive roadmap for large-scale autonomous mobility operations.
The company’s accelerated commercialization progress has drawn increasing attention from the capital market. On May 22, CaoCao’s shares closed at HKD 28.6, rising more than 22% over two trading days, making it one of the most closely watched stocks in Hong Kong’s intelligent mobility sector. The rally reflects growing investor recognition that CaoCao’s long-term value may be increasingly defined by its potential role in the Robotaxi value chain.
At the same time, Tesla’s announcement that FSD (Supervised) is now available in the Chinese market has once again drawn global capital market attention to China’s autonomous driving and Robotaxi value chain. The commercial opportunity represented by CaoCao’s transformation far exceeds what the market had previously priced in.The company is gradually transforming from a traditional mobility platform into an intelligent driving services platform for the AI era.
The Real Barrier to Robotaxi Is Not Just Technology
Many people tend to understand Robotaxi simply as an “autonomous taxi.” In reality, however, Robotaxi is a systems-engineering undertaking far more complex than any single technology.
As Geely Holding Group’s primary commercial platform for Robotaxi operations, CaoCao has established a full-capability, closed-loop Robotaxi ecosystem centered on intelligent purpose-built vehicles, intelligent driving technologies and intelligent operations. Within this system, the vehicles are deeply customized through cooperation between Geely Holding Group and CaoCao, ensuring high reliability and controllable costs at the hardware level. On the technology side, CaoCao has rich mobility scenarios and vast mobility data. Leveraging Geely Holding Group’s strengths in passenger vehicles, CaoCao can rapidly advance the iteration, scaled application, and commercial deployment of intelligent driving technologies. On the operations side, CaoCao’s 10 years of urban operating experience, full-lifecycle vehicle asset management system, and user service system together form an irreplaceable soft infrastructure for the deployment of Robotaxis.
This means that once Robotaxi enters a true phase of scaled commercial expansion, CaoCao will have a stronger ability to deploy rapidly than pure technology companies. This is the core logic behind the capital market’s renewed attention to CaoCao.
With this foundation in mind, CaoCao’s series of concrete moves this year clearly shows that its commercialization process is accelerating across the board.
In April, CaoCao was approved as the first company in Hangzhou authorized to conduct driverless road testing for Robotaxis, marking the formal entry of its Robotaxi business into the driverless testing phase. This is one of the most critical technical validation stages before Robotaxis move toward true commercial operations, and also represents an official regulatory endorsement of the company’s autonomous driving capabilities. Securing this qualification first in Hangzhou shows that CaoCao’s autonomous driving system has reached a certain level of maturity and safety redundancy, while also building experience and credibility for securing similar testing approvals in more cities.
Shortly after receiving approval for testing in Hangzhou, CaoCao announced a strategic partnership agreement with Shanghai International Automobile City, with plans to deploy 100 Robotaxis in Shanghai this year and accelerate Robotaxi operations in a top-tier city. Shanghai is not only one of China’s most important consumer and commercial centers, but also a key battleground with relatively open autonomous driving policies and well-developed infrastructure. Achieving 100-vehicle-level operations in Shanghai will help CaoCao rapidly accumulate real-world data in complex urban scenarios and accelerate system iteration, while also creating a strong demonstration effect for the national market and international investors.
Beyond short-term deployment, CaoCao’s long-term plans also deserve attention.
In late April, China’s first purpose-built Robotaxi prototype made its debut. CaoCao was deeply involved in the product definition and R&D of the vehicle. The model draws extensively on the company’s proven experience with existing purpose-built vehicles in significantly reducing vehicle TCO (total cost of ownership). Under current plans, CaoCao’s deeply customized Robotaxi model will enter mass production in 2027. The model is expected to have significant advantages in cost control, safety redundancy design, and ease of maintenance, with cumulative deployment planned to reach 100,000 Robotaxis by 2030.
From approval for driverless testing to scaled urban deployment and the rollout of a dedicated mass-production model, CaoCao’s Robotaxi commercialization roadmap is becoming increasingly clear.
Positioning in Hong Kong: An Early Strategic Move in the Global Right-Hand-Drive Market
While CaoCao is accelerating commercialization in China, its global expansion strategy is also quietly taking shape.
As early as the end of 2025, CaoCao signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, officially marking the beginning of its global Robotaxi operations.
Recently, Yang Xueliang, Senior Vice President of Geely Holding Group, publicly revealed that CaoCao will showcase China’s first purpose-built Robotaxi prototype at International MotorXpo Hong Kong 2026 (IMXpo), and that the company plans to use Hong Kong as a strategic bridgehead for expanding into the global right-hand-drive market. This is another major disclosure of CaoCao’s global Robotaxi ambitions and a factor that has helped draw market attention during the recent rally.
Hong Kong’s significance in CaoCao’s global expansion strategy goes far beyond serving as a showcase.
From a demonstration perspective, Hong Kong has an internationally aligned regulatory system and an open, transparent market environment. If CaoCao can take the lead in achieving commercial Robotaxi deployment in Hong Kong, it would serve as a comprehensive validation of its technological reliability and the completeness of its operating system. It would also create a strong demonstration effect for international markets, which would carry significant strategic value for future international capital raising and business expansion.
From a market expansion perspective, Hong Kong is an important node in the global right-hand-drive market. The global right-hand-drive market covers the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, and many other countries and regions, with considerable overall scale. Establishing a mature Robotaxi operating model in Hong Kong would provide CaoCao with a highly convincing commercial reference point and first-mover advantage for expansion into emerging right-hand-drive markets such as Southeast Asia.
More importantly, Robotaxi expansion overseas follows a fundamentally different logic from traditional vehicle exports. Traditional automakers export “products”: once a vehicle is delivered, the transaction is largely complete. Robotaxi players, by contrast, export an integrated system spanning platform, technology, and operations. True global competitiveness therefore depends not only on technology, but also on the ability to coordinate a full ecosystem. Backed by Geely’s global footprint, CaoCao can draw on coordinated support across vehicle manufacturing, parts supply, after-sales service, operations, and maintenance — a capability that supports the market’s longer-term expectations for the company.
Intelligent Driving Momentum and Robotaxi Repricing Open Long-Term Upside for CaoCao
Taking a broader view, CaoCao’s recent rally is not an isolated event, but a concentrated release of renewed enthusiasm across the global autonomous driving sector.
On May 21, Tesla officially announced that FSD (Supervised) is now available in the Chinese market. The news quickly rippled through global capital markets, drawing broad attention to companies linked to the intelligent driving value chain. Against this external catalyst, the narrative represented by CaoCao as a “Chinese Robotaxi operating platform” has become a natural focus for investors seeking exposure.
Of course, what is truly driving the revaluation of CaoCao is not merely short-term sentiment, but a structural shift in the company’s positioning.
In the past, the market’s understanding of CaoCao was largely anchored in the valuation framework of a traditional mobility platform, where order volume, GMV, driver and user scale, and similar indicators were the core metrics. The growth ceiling appeared relatively limited.
But as CaoCao continues to deepen its Robotaxi business, this framework is being broken. Vehicles themselves are becoming productive assets capable of automated operations. Costs are expected to fall sharply, while the platform’s scale effects and earnings elasticity will expand significantly. The essence of its business model has already begun to diverge fundamentally from that of a traditional mobility platform.
Caitong Securities recently initiated coverage of CaoCao with a “Buy” rating. The research report noted that the company is expected to launch mass-produced Robotaxis at scale in 2027, fully advance commercial deployment, and begin contributing scaled revenue. It also expects cumulative deployment to reach 100,000 vehicles by 2030. The report further estimated that by 2030, CaoCao’s Robotaxi business could generate approximately RMB 15 billion in annual revenue — a figure that far exceeds the upper end of the market’s previous expectations for its traditional mobility business.
This means CaoCao’s future is no longer merely a growth story about a traditional mobility platform, but a new proposition about the restructuring of mobility capacity in the era of intelligent driving.
From technical validation to urban deployment and global expansion, CaoCao’s Robotaxi momentum is unfolding step by step. The capital market’s repricing of the company may have only just begun.
Jing Liu Jing.Liu3@caocaoglobal.com
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