"Grab ran a successful pilot of autonomous vehicles in September, rolled out in partnership with WeRide, a Chinese robotaxi operator. Earlier this year, Grab announced it would make a "strategic equity investment" in WeRide, to be completed in the first half of next year. Then, in late October, Grab also invested in U.S.-based May Mobility, another provider of autonomous vehicles. May Mobility started to provide commercial rides on robotaxis in the U.S. earlier this year."
"In an Q&A with analysts, Tan called the investments part of a "long-term strategy to lead the adoption of AV and remote driving across Southeast Asia." Yet he admitted that robotaxi may have a steeper hill to climb in the region, due to lower labor costs compared to developed markets like the U.S. or Singapore. "It will require considerable time for the unit economics to reach parity with human drivers.""
Grab will roll out robotaxis in Singapore in early 2026. Grab conducted a successful autonomous vehicle pilot in September with WeRide and plans a strategic equity investment in WeRide to be completed in the first half of next year. Grab also invested in U.S.-based May Mobility, which already provides commercial robotaxi rides in the United States. The investments form part of a long-term strategy to lead AV and remote driving adoption across Southeast Asia. Robotaxi deployment faces unit-economics challenges due to lower regional labor costs. New job roles could include remote safety drivers, data labelers, and hardware maintenance. Quarterly revenue reached $873 million, up 22% year-over-year for the period ending Sept. 30.
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