Where is AutoX based?

AutoX is based in Shenzhen, China.

What does AutoX make?

AutoX has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: AutoX RoboTaxi (AutoX builds both physical robots and the AI that runs them).

Where does AutoX operate robots?

AutoX operates 1 verified deployment, including at Shenzhen.

AutoX has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.

AutoX · DEPLOY

Overview

Early Chinese robotaxi company (Shenzhen + CA; founded 2016; founder Jianxiong Xiao; Alibaba/Dongfeng-backed); 2nd globally to run public driverless robotaxi (2021). Wound down China ops; pivoted to Tensor (US).

Verified record

Verified deployments: 1 deployment on file
Active incidents: None on file

DEPLOY Intelligence

Market intelligence for physical AI

Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.

Models (1)

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Retired

AutoX RoboTaxi

AutoX (founded in August 2016 by Jianxiong Xiao, known as Professor X, a former Princeton assistant professor; based in Shenzhen and California and backed by Alibaba and Dongfeng Motor Group) was an early Chinese robotaxi leader and the second company in the world to run a public fully-driverless robotaxi service, in Shenzhen in 2021, holding driverless permits across six cities and opening a San Francisco operations center in 2022. The registry records it at commercial maturity to reflect that historical peak, with a discontinued lifecycle state: AutoX has wound down its China robotaxi operations entirely, with China operations divested, offices closed, and the brand discontinued, while the founder pivoted the company into a Silicon Valley personal-robocar startup called Tensor with no active China presence, so it is not a currently-operating robotaxi service. This follows the active-retired split, with maturity reflecting the historical commercial peak and lifecycle reflecting the wind-down. The frequently cited 2021 claim of a fleet of more than a thousand vehicles, the largest in China, is stale and self-reported and does not reflect 2026 reality, the roughly $267 million total-funding figure is an aggregator number rather than primary-sourced, the exact wind-down date is unconfirmed with the company having gone quiet around 2022 to 2023 and completing the wind-down around 2024 to 2025, and Tensor's planned second-half-2026 consumer-robocar launch is a forward-looking claim rather than a shipped product.

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Relationships

SSAIC CapitalInvestor AAlibabaInvestor AAutoXCustomer

Current leadership (2)

Jianxiong Xiao Founder & CEO (AutoX; now operating as Tensor)secondary-verified
Xiao Jianxiong Founder, CEOsince 2016-01-01secondary-verified

Founders (2)

Jianxiong Xiaosolefounded 2016-01-01
Xiao Jianxiongsolefounded 2016-01-01

Safety record

No incidents on record for AutoX.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Operated deployments (1)

AutoX RoboTaxiShenzhen

Operator customers (1)

AutoX1 deployment

Peer companies

Tesla4 models
Aurora Innovation3 models
Nuro3 models
Waymo3 models
Avride2 models
Baidu2 models

Financial state

Reporting basis: private_reported
Lifecycle stage: wound_down
Counterparty risk class: high
Going concern: flaggedWound down China robotaxi operations; founder pivoted to Tensor (US).

Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.

Funding rounds (1)

Series A2021-02-25
$160M(reported)
Investors: SAIC Capital (lead), Alibaba

Sources (4)

Common questions

What is AutoX?: Early Chinese robotaxi company (Shenzhen + CA; founded 2016; founder Jianxiong Xiao; Alibaba/Dongfeng-backed); 2nd globally to run public driverless robotaxi (2021). Wound down China ops; pivoted to Tensor (US).
Where is AutoX based?: AutoX is based in Shenzhen, China.
When was AutoX founded?: AutoX was founded in 2016.
What does AutoX make?: AutoX has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: AutoX RoboTaxi (AutoX builds both physical robots and the AI that runs them).
Where does AutoX operate robots?: AutoX operates 1 verified deployment, including at Shenzhen.
Is AutoX safe?: AutoX has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.

Methodology: Verified · 4 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-06-28

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-06-28

Sources by quality tier

2: secondary-trade-publication; Trade publication
2: unclassified; Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Peer companies

Tesla4 models
Aurora Innovation3 models
Nuro3 models
Waymo3 models
Avride2 models
Baidu2 models

No press coverage on file for AutoX yet. Coverage appears here automatically as articles are ingested from our press sources.

Machine-readable surfaces

Markdown mirror: /companies/autox.md
RSS feed: /companies/autox/feed.xml
JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
REST API: /v1/companies/817a5006-43be-442c-8018-451652d05731
Revision history: /companies/autox/history
Data documentation: /data
Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP

Peer companies

Tesla4 models
Aurora Innovation3 models
Nuro3 models
Waymo3 models
Avride2 models
Baidu2 models

DEPLOY Intelligence Score

24.3/ 100

vs 6 months ago

6-month trend

Peer rankingTop 66% of Av

vs funding peers-15.6 ptsbelow funding-adj. expected

Analysis

Clean safety record across 1 verified deployment. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.

Signal flags

New deploymentGoing concernFunding gap >24mo

Dimension breakdown

Safety Record

95.0MED

Deployment Scale

7.8MED

Funding Health

7.2HIGH

IP Activity

5.0LOW

Hiring Signal

0.0LOW

Market Presence

0.0LOW

DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.

Last computed: Jul 3, 2026

Intelligence layer