Under the promotion of breakthroughs in global self-driving technology, Robotaxi (self-driving taxis) is transitioning from concept to practical application, leading the future trend of intelligent transportation.

Recently, the commercial prospects of autonomous driving technology have become increasingly clear, with a significant increase in orders for autonomous driving transportation platforms, demonstrating a strong market demand for Robotaxi services. Especially in the Chinese market, according to Sullivan data, it is expected that by 2030, the penetration rate of Robotaxi in China's smart transportation will reach 31.8%, and by 2035, it will reach 69.3%, highlighting the strong growth potential of this industry and the widespread expectations for intelligent transportation.

On August 28th, Ruqi Xing (09680), known as the 'First Stock of Robotaxi,' released its mid-term performance announcement for 2024. The financial report shows that thanks to the expansion of its customer base and an increase in orders, the company's overall revenue in the first half of this year grew by 13.6% compared to the same period last year, reaching 1.037 billion RMB, achieving increased revenue. On the other hand, due to an increase in revenue from fleet sales and maintenance, technology services, and improved gross margin for transportation services, the company's gross margin significantly increased by 59.7% year-on-year.

In the first half of the year, the company saw a growth of 11.1%, 175.8%, and 25.9% in transportation services, technology services, and fleet sales and maintenance revenue, respectively, driving an overall increase in company revenue. The total number of orders in the first half of the year was approximately 48.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 12.3%; the number of registered users on the platform was approximately 33.8 million as of June 2024, a growth of 56.5% compared to the same period last year.

The performance announcement mentions that Ruqi Xing will continue to optimize its transportation service platform, provide customers with a full range of service options, and implement a regional expansion strategy, aiming to expand the market for online car-hailing and Robotaxi transportation services on an international scale. Leveraging its competitive advantages, successful experiences in major regions, and the early-mover advantage in Robotaxi operation, Ruqi Xing plans to expand the landscape of online car-hailing and Robotaxi transportation services.

Autonomous driving technology pioneer: Robotaxi commercial services have already been launched in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

With the development of artificial intelligence technology, generative AI and rapid iteration of large models are driving the arrival of the autonomous driving era. As the core application scenario of autonomous driving, Robotaxi will become the centerpiece of this era. Ruqi Xing, which started as a transportation service provider, has early insight into the commercial future of Robotaxi, and has been laying out and promoting the commercial development of Robotaxi in China for years.

In today's rapidly developing self-driving technology, Ruqi Travel Technology Platform has achieved remarkable achievements in the industry. In January of this year, the company obtained the qualification for the passenger-carrying application of Robotaxi in the Qianhai area of Shenzhen, signaling the official launch of its services in key areas such as Qianhai, Bao'an Central District, Bao'an Airport District, Shenzhen Bay, and Shenzhen Bay Port. In the same month, the company obtained the qualification for the commercial trial of intelligent connected vehicles in Bao'an District of Shenzhen, marking the official launch of its commercial operation of Robotaxi services in the region.

In August, Ruqi Travel achieved another significant breakthrough by obtaining approval for Robotaxi road testing in the Hengqin Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone, which laid a solid foundation for its services in the Hengqin area. In addition, Ruqi Travel recently became one of the first travel technology platforms to be approved for L3 autonomous driving pilot testing in China, jointly promoting the development of L3 autonomous driving vehicle services with GAC Passenger Vehicle Group.

These series of milestones not only highlight Ruqi Travel's leading position in the field of autonomous driving, but also demonstrate its firm determination to promote the commercialization of intelligent travel services. Through continuous technological innovation and service optimization, Ruqi Travel is bringing safer, more convenient, and more efficient travel solutions to its users, leading the future of intelligent travel services.

Whether it is manned online car-hailing or Robotaxi, one of the unchanged requirements for travel platforms is vehicle dispatch and management capabilities. Ruqi Travel has independently developed an open Robotaxi operation technology platform, which features three core modules: Vehicle Management System (VMS), Operation and Supervision Platform (OMP), and Robotaxi Data Platform (RDP). This technology platform can achieve remote management and control of Robotaxi through cloud technology, improving the operational efficiency and service quality of vehicles.

From the issuance of the passenger-carrying application qualification in Shenzhen to the opening of autonomous driving vehicle testing in cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, local governments are actively creating an environment conducive to the testing, validation, and commercialization of Robotaxi technology through policy guidance and infrastructure construction. These measures not only accelerate the maturity and innovation of Robotaxi technology, but also provide the public with opportunities to experience and explore future travel modes. Especially in forward-looking regions such as the Hengqin Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone, full-scale Robotaxi road testing has begun, demonstrating support for the development of intelligent transportation systems and embracing innovative technologies.

Guangzhou, where Ruqi Travel is headquartered, is a fertile ground for the development of autonomous driving and Robotaxi. According to the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, Guangzhou has achieved many national firsts in the field of autonomous driving, including being the first city to issue autonomous driving passenger test licenses, the first city to conduct batch Robotaxi technology verification, and the first city to establish a standardized production process for L4 autonomous driving vehicles. It is worth noting that the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress recently solicited opinions on the draft regulations on the innovative application of intelligent connected vehicles, aiming to legislate to support the application of autonomous driving in urban transportation, which will greatly promote the deep integration and application of autonomous driving technology in urban transportation.

Ruqi Travel is benefiting from favorable policies and regulatory progress, exploring the forefront of technological innovation, new service options, and operating models. While developing itself, Ruqi Travel actively participates in the formulation of industry policies and standards for Robotaxi operations. The company is a member of the Guangzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle Electronics Industry Development Promotion Association, participating in the formulation of relevant intelligent connected vehicle policy proposals in Guangzhou, as well as the planning, construction, operation, and coordination of the Guangzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle Demonstration Area and related intelligent connected vehicle road testing construction.

With the advent of large-scale commercialization, Ruqi Travel is expected to become a unicorn in the industry. The large-scale commercialization of Robotaxi is expected to be achieved by 2026. According to Frost & Sullivan, the national and global Robotaxi market is projected to reach 488.8 billion yuan and 834.9 billion yuan respectively by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 247.7% and 238.8% from 2024 to 2030.

Technology-driven growth - the company's R&D investment has brought significant profit improvements.

Robotaxi is another travel innovation after the maturity of autonomous driving technology. It can be said that autonomous driving is taking off, and Robotaxi is about to explode. While looking forward to the large-scale commercialization of Robotaxi, companies like Qi Zhou Travel are empowering the development of autonomous driving through their technical services, focusing not only on the future but also striving for the present.

As early as 2015, countries began to layout autonomous driving and enact related support policies. For example, in 2015, the EU released the 'European Automated Driving Intelligent System Technology Roadmap', the UK passed the 'Automation and Electrification of Vehicles Act' in 2018, and in 2018, China also issued the 'Intelligent Connected Vehicle Road Test Management Standards (Trial)'.

China leads the world in the field of autonomous driving, with more than 10 cities nationwide allowing autonomous vehicles to engage in commercial trial operations such as taxi and urban public bus during specific periods in specific areas as early as 2022. Now, several domestic brands have gradually developed in-house intelligent driving architectures that are applied to models. Vehicles like Xiaopeng G series, Byton M series, GAC Haobai, and Chery Zhijie have all achieved advanced levels of autonomous driving.

As intelligent driving technology accelerates its commercialization, the demand for data in intelligent driving R&D iterations is increasing. Feeding scaled, high-quality data to models is crucial for technological research and upgrade iterations. For the R&D and iteration of intelligent driving technology, low-cost, high-quality, compliant data sources are essential. With mature B-end operational experience and a leading autonomous driving operational technology system, Qi Zhou Travel has accumulated the most cost-effective and compliant data sources.

In addition to high-quality data sources, Qi Zhou Travel also has a complete data closed-loop capability. In 2023, leveraging a massive amount of compliant data accumulated on the platform, Qi Zhou Travel has created a one-stop autonomous driving data solution from data collection, annotation to model training. This solution provides consistently high-quality processed data to intelligent driving research institutions, reducing their costs in data processing, training, and other aspects, deeply serving intelligent driving research and development.

Qi Zhou Travel's one-stop annotation platform, ONTIME Data Encoder, comes with a large perceptual model, integrating annotation tools, pre-annotation models, and project management. It supports full category annotations in 2D, 3D, and 4D under scenarios like autonomous driving, featuring advanced annotation techniques such as BEV 4D annotation, frame stacking temporal law, AI pre-annotation, keyframe interpolation, 2D/3D fusion annotation, and automatic fitting to enhance data annotation efficiency.

Currently, Qi Zhou's autonomous driving data solution has served multiple domestic autonomous driving technology companies, leading automobile OEMs, and intelligent automobile solution providers in China. By continuously providing high-quality processed data and reducing their costs in data processing, training, and other aspects, Qi Zhou aims to accelerate autonomous driving technology research and upgrade more efficiently and economically in collaboration with partners across the industry chain.

To enhance its own technological strength, Ruqi Travel increases its research and development efforts every year. In the first half of this year, the company's technical services significantly increased by 175.8%. At the same time, the company's research and development expenses were RMB 73.52 million, a 27.5% year-on-year increase from 2023. The prospectus shows that 44.2% of Ruqi Travel's employees are product and R&D personnel.

New opportunities for value investing: The autonomous driving industry has huge valuation potential.

In the wave of commercialization of autonomous driving technology, Ruqi Travel has become the focus of the industry due to its outstanding performance growth and market performance.

Based on this strong performance and market potential, Ruqi Travel has successively completed seed, Series A, and Series B financing rounds in 2019, 2022, and 2023. Not long ago, its IPO received cornerstone investments from Guangzhou Automobile Group, Xiaoma Zhixing, Voyager (Didi's autonomous driving arm), WeRide, and other investors, providing not only financial support but also injecting confidence into the company's future development.

Since its establishment, the company has grown into a "new force in the Robotaxi operation technology" focused solely on the Hong Kong stock market target in just three years. Ruqi Travel's rapid development and market recognition are attributed to the company's uniqueness and scarcity as a Hong Kong-listed symbol, which provides a high level of certainty for its valuation premium.

With the release of the company's performance in the first half of 2024, Ruqi Travel's leading position and development potential in the Robotaxi industry have been further confirmed. As a pioneer in the Hong Kong stock market's Robotaxi sector, Ruqi Travel has established a first-mover advantage in mass production capabilities, operational efficiency, and technological strength, consolidating its position as an industry leader and demonstrating significant commercial potential and investment value. With the maturity of autonomous driving technology and policy support, the company leverages cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, big data, ai, to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving services, providing investors with a reasonably valued and promising growth opportunity.