May Mobility has spent years proving its autonomous vehicles can handle American streets and Japanese neighborhoods. Now the Ann Arbor-based company wants more. On June 24, 2026, it struck a deal with Chinese ride-hailing operator CaoCao to chase large-scale robotaxi services starting in Europe.
The partnership splits duties cleanly. CaoCao owns and operates the fleet. It handles maintenance, rider support and day-to-day logistics. May Mobility supplies the self-driving system. No human drivers in the loop once pilots mature. The announcement landed the same day CaoCao unveiled its RoboX strategy in Hong Kong, an AI-focused push that includes plans for 100,000 robotaxis by 2030.
Both sides see Europe as the right first overseas test. The continent presents dense urban cores, varied road rules across borders, and demanding weather. Those conditions, executives argue, will push the technology harder than many domestic markets. “International expansion is a key direction for CaoCao’s autonomous driving business,” the company said in a statement. “Europe offers diverse real-world environments and strong potential for robotaxi commercialisation.”
May Mobility brings a track record. It has logged more than 500,000 commercial autonomous rides across the U.S. and Japan. The company already works with Lyft in Atlanta, prepares launches on the Uber platform in Texas, and counts Grab as an investor for Southeast Asia plans. Its current fleet relies on hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna minivans. A new third-party vehicle platform announcement is expected later this year.
The heart of May Mobility’s offering sits in its multi-policy decision-making architecture. The system blends deep learning, world models and real-time reasoning. It aims to mimic human judgment when construction barrels appear or pedestrians step into traffic without warning. That flexibility matters when entering markets where training data gaps exist. Edwin Olson, CEO and founder of May Mobility, put it directly: “Expanding autonomous ride-hail across new countries takes technology that scales as fast as the operation does, and that is exactly what May Mobility delivers. CaoCao has set an ambitious goal of deploying 100,000 robotaxis by 2030, and we are excited to work together to help realise this vision.”
CaoCao’s Global Push Gains Momentum
CaoCao, a Geely subsidiary founded in 2015, already moves aggressively at home. Driverless testing approvals arrived in Hangzhou this spring. The company plans to deploy 100 robotaxis in Shanghai before year-end. A purpose-built robotaxi prototype debuted in April 2026. Mass production begins in 2027. The 100,000-unit target by 2030 covers both robotaxis and robovans. An MOU signed with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office in late 2025 signaled early overseas interest. Hong Kong now serves as the bridgehead for right-hand-drive markets from the UK to Southeast Asia.
The Europe move tests whether Chinese operational scale travels well. Regulators there demand rigorous safety cases, data localization in some countries, and public acceptance that still wavers after incidents involving other autonomous operators. Yet the prize looks large. A recent market forecast pegs the global robotaxi sector at $0.61 billion in 2025, headed toward $147.25 billion by 2033. CaoCao wants a meaningful share.
May Mobility’s earlier international steps offer clues. Its Japan operations with partners including Toyota and NTT started on university campuses before public roads. The Grab investment announced in October 2025 targets Southeast Asian deployment as early as 2026, regulations permitting. Those experiences shaped the CaoCao agreement. Feasibility studies and pilot programs come first. Only after validation does broader commercialization follow.
Competitors watch closely. Waymo continues U.S. expansion but faces recalls and operational limits. Zoox revealed upgraded vehicles the same week, preparing its own commercial push. Uber and Lyft each maintain multiple autonomous partnerships. Stellantis, Uber and Wayve recently formed another global robotaxi alliance. The field grows crowded. Success hinges less on flashy hardware and more on who can deploy at cost, at scale, and without constant human oversight.
Challenges remain. European cities vary wildly in infrastructure quality. Rural routes between capitals introduce new edge cases. Insurance, liability and union concerns over driver displacement add friction. CaoCao’s fleet-management expertise, honed moving millions of rides in China, must adapt to smaller initial volumes and stricter oversight. May Mobility’s reasoning engine will face mapping gaps and traffic norms that differ from Midwest grids or Japanese side streets.
Still, the alignment looks logical. One company knows how to run ride-hail networks at volume. The other knows how to keep vehicles moving safely without drivers. Their joint statement frames the tie-up as complementary strengths. Gong Xin, CEO of CaoCao, echoed the sentiment in prepared remarks about Europe’s commercial promise.
Industry momentum builds. Chinese firms increasingly look abroad after domestic demonstration projects. U.S. players seek partners with capital and operational muscle. The May Mobility-CaoCao agreement, signed at an expo in Hong Kong, captures that crossover moment. Whether it delivers the first driverless rides in a major European city by late decade depends on pilots succeeding, regulators cooperating and costs falling fast enough to compete with human-driven alternatives.
For now the two companies share a clear ambition. Get the technology into new markets. Prove it works at scale. Then expand further. The road ahead is long. But the first turn points toward Europe.
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