Hello, the Chinese shared-mobility company best known for its bike-sharing and scooter services, has raised about $100 million for its robotaxi unit, valuing the business at nearly $3 billion (about 21.3 billion yuan). The funding round was led by Shanghai Guotou Pioneer Fund, with participation from Minjintou and Creation Partners, according to a statement from the company on September 15.
The investment comes just over a year after Hello formally entered the robotaxi (autonomous taxi) sector. In June 2025, Hello, together with Ant Group and CATL, established Shanghai Zaofu Intelligent Technology, the entity behind the robotaxi business, with an initial combined investment exceeding 3 billion yuan. Alibaba later joined as a strategic investor in September of that year.
Hello's first production robotaxi, the HR1, was unveiled in September 2025 and rolled off the line in July 2026 at a Dongfeng Nissan plant in Guangzhou. The company says it has produced over 100 units and plans to deploy them in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the second half of 2026. The HR1 is designed for L4-level autonomous driving, meaning it can operate without a human driver in certain conditions.
The funding signals that capital and local government funds still back the platform-led robotaxi model, but expectations are shifting, according to Chen Liteng, a senior analyst at e-commerce research firm Wangjing. Investors are now focusing on safety data, operating costs, and real order margins rather than just fleet size, he told the National Business Daily, the outlet that originally reported the news.
Safety concerns and expansion plans
Hello's rapid push has not been without setbacks. In December 2025, a Hello robotaxi was involved in a collision with a pedestrian in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, prompting local authorities to suspend all autonomous vehicle operations in the city. The incident has raised questions about whether the company's expansion pace has outpaced its safety validation.
Li Zhichao, CFO of Hello's robotaxi business, defended the company's safety approach, citing a comprehensive system that includes an end-to-end foundation model, six layers of safety redundancy, and dual data loops. He said the company is not chasing city coverage but will focus on regions with mature policies and industrial foundations, aiming to deepen operations in over ten cities between 2026 and 2027, and expand to three to five countries.
The robotaxi push comes as Hello's core two-wheeler business faces headwinds. In April, Beijing authorities launched an investigation into Hello for exceeding its bike-sharing quota, and in March, its e-bike rental service was exposed on CCTV's annual consumer rights show for allowing stores to remove speed limiters. Hello's financial filings from 2021 showed cumulative net losses of nearly 5 billion yuan from 2018 to 2020, with gross margins on shared bikes at just 6.7% in 2020.
Hello enters a crowded field dominated by players like Baidu's Apollo Go, Pony.ai, and WeRide. In August, Didi's autonomous driving unit began unmanned passenger testing of its R2 vehicle in Beijing and Guangzhou. Cao Cao Mobility, backed by Geely, has also announced plans to deploy 100,000 robotaxis by 2030.
Chen said Hello is in the second tier of robotaxi players, relying on an industry alliance model to catch up. Its advantages include cross-scenario synergy between two-wheeled and four-wheeled mobility, plus computing and battery resources from Ant and CATL. However, it lags in road-test mileage and faces regulatory caution after the Zhuzhou incident. "Hello needs to slow down its aggressive deployment and strengthen safety capabilities in complex scenarios rather than simply competing on fleet size," he said.
