Following product and service exports, the global expansion of China's automotive industry chain is forming a third, more advanced form: "Scenario Going Global." While facing greater supply and demand opportunities, Scenario Going Global also imposes higher requirements on enterprises' technology, service, and accompanying operational capabilities. This article systematically analyzes key overseas scenario opportunities and typical cases, summarizes the characteristics of different market demands, and provides recommendations.
What Is "Scenario Going Global"?
The global expansion of China's automotive industry has roughly gone through three forms: the first is product export, selling complete vehicles and parts; the second is service operation export, outputting digital service capabilities such as charging, maintenance, insurance, and data; the third is Scenario Going Global, which focuses on specific overseas application scenarios, packaging products, technologies, systems, and operations into a complete set of implementable solutions to help customers solve full-process problems.
Compared with the first two forms, Scenario Going Global has three characteristics: first, it is technology-driven, with the core being the drive of intelligence, electrification, intelligent scheduling, and low-carbon technology solutions; second, it mainly targets enterprises and governments, with scenarios mostly concentrated in closed or semi-closed environments such as unmanned mines, ports, trunk and last-mile logistics, urban transportation, engineering and special vehicles, government public services, as well as new energy storage and intelligent connected vehicles, featuring clear demands and transparent commercial returns; third, customers are not buying products, but results, requiring not only customized solutions but also long-term operation and service companionship.
Scenario Going Global is an advanced pathway for China's automotive industry to shift from "selling products" to "selling solutions and operations," and also one of the most characteristic and competitive forms in systemic global expansion. It transforms China's unique advantages in intelligence, electrification, and scenario-based operations into comprehensive capabilities to help overseas markets "run through the scenarios," and is expected to open a new, differentiated, high-value, and sustainable pathway for global expansion worldwide.
Why This Pathway Belongs to China
The reason Scenario Going Global is an opportunity for China lies in the high alignment of supply and demand. From the supply side, China is at the forefront of the world in the commercialization of autonomous driving in restricted scenarios. Unmanned mining trucks, unmanned container trucks, last-mile unmanned delivery, and Robotaxis have all achieved large-scale operations domestically. Coupled with electrified products and a complete supply chain, Chinese enterprises can provide complete solutions at costs far lower than those in Europe and the US; for instance, the manufacturing cost of unmanned delivery vehicles is only about one-tenth of that in Europe and the US. More remarkably, Chinese enterprises are generally capable of both delivering products and assisting in operations.
From the demand side, many overseas scenarios commonly face issues such as labor shortages, high labor costs, dangerous operations, and low efficiency, along with significant carbon reduction pressures. For example, open-pit mines face difficulties in recruitment and high safety risks; ports and logistics suffer from driver shortages and high operational costs; urban mobility and public service sectors are dealing with an aging population and a shortage of human resources. Meanwhile, Chinese solutions are mature and highly cost-effective, which can perfectly address these real and urgent needs, achieving precise matching of supply and demand.
Where Are the Opportunities in Scenarios
In the field of unmanned mines, open-pit mines in Australia, Russia, South America, Africa, Indonesia, and other regions account for as high as 70% to 90%. With difficulties in recruitment, high costs, and significant risks, they are the most ideal application scenarios for unmanned and electrified operations. The global market size for unmanned mining is expected to approach 10 billion US dollars by 2030.
Chinese unmanned mining truck enterprises are accelerating their global expansion. CIDI is the world's first listed company focusing on unmanned driving in mining areas, having deployed over 1,700 unmanned mining trucks in total; EACON has achieved large-scale implementation in Australia, with a global cumulative deployment of over 2,500 unmanned mining trucks; Lukai Intelligent has been put into operation in Brazil; Boraton Technology possesses a full-stack solution for electrified unmanned transportation, with a cumulative deployment of over 1,000 unmanned mining trucks. Overseas, Chinese-funded mining groups are also more willing to adopt familiar, highly integrated, and cost-controllable Chinese systems.
In the fields of ports and logistics, driver shortages, high operational costs, and significant carbon reduction pressures are common issues, which also represent one of the most mature scenarios for the commercialization of autonomous driving. Westwell's unmanned container truck solution has been implemented in 18 countries and regions globally. From Laem Chabang Port in Thailand and Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, to Felixstowe Port in the UK and the Red Sea terminal in Suez, Egypt, the value of unmanned electric container trucks in carbon reduction, cost reduction, and labor supplementation is highly prominent. In the trunk, transit, and last-mile links of logistics, last-mile unmanned delivery is the most mature. Neolix unmanned vehicles have covered 15 countries globally, with overseas sales expected to reach over 5,000 units in 2026, and it has obtained the first commercial license for the unmanned delivery industry in the Middle East and even the world in Abu Dhabi. To cope with the sandstorms and rainstorms in the Middle East, Neolix has also developed an autonomous driving solution that does not rely on HD maps, reducing costs by 90% and achieving "hour-level deployment."
In the field of unmanned mobility, urban mobility is becoming the focus of corporate competition. The global expansion of China's Robotaxis has significantly accelerated. WeRide has achieved operations in 12 countries and over 40 cities globally, and has partnered with Uber to launch autonomous driving mobility services in Abu Dhabi and Dubai; Pony.ai has been implemented in over 20 countries globally, and its global deployment of Robotaxis is expected to reach 3,000 units by the end of 2026; Baidu's Apollo Go has also landed Robotaxis in the Middle East, Europe, and other regions, leading the world in overseas implementation scale.
The Middle East has become the preferred destination for Robotaxi global expansion due to prominent policy dividends and capital support. Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030," the UAE's "D33 Agenda," along with special subsidies and relaxed regulations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have made the Middle East an ideal place for Robotaxi development. The UAE has even explicitly proposed to achieve 25% autonomous mobility by 2030. In addition, scenarios such as mining, ports, parks, and engineering construction have strong demands for the electrification, unmanned operation, and customization of construction machinery and special vehicles. Public services such as sanitation, public transport, and urban distribution are procured under government leadership with clear carbon reduction targets. China has rich experience in technology and commercial operations in these fields, making them areas that can be quickly entered.
There are also two other new scenarios that are rapidly rising and deeply synergizing with automobiles. One is new energy and energy storage. The "integration of photovoltaic, energy storage, and charging," which combines photovoltaics, energy storage, charging, and automobiles, makes electric vehicles the best carrier for mobile energy storage to participate in grid regulation and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) interaction. China has accumulated rich experience in establishing microgrids for islands and mining areas, as well as in cascade utilization, where retired batteries are used for energy storage, forming a closed loop with battery recycling. In terms of global expansion strategies, Africa and off-grid areas are suitable for prefabricated PV-energy storage-charging integrated systems; the Middle East is suitable for large-scale new energy projects; Europe treats electric vehicles as distributed mobile energy storage units, promoting vehicle-to-grid interaction through policies and market mechanisms to solve the grid fluctuation problems caused by the integration of a high proportion of renewable energy.
The other is intelligent connected vehicles (ICV) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X). Many overseas countries still lack systematic capabilities in smart transportation and smart roads. China can export V2X platforms, roadside facilities, and integrated vehicle-road-cloud solutions, and package V2X as the underlying enabling technology for various scenarios such as Robotaxis, unmanned ports, and mines for global expansion.
[Case] CIDI: A Sample of "Scenario Going Global" from Unmanned Mining Trucks to Intelligent Connected Vehicles
CIDI, incubated by Li Zekai, the "Godfather of DJI," was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2025. It is the "first commercial vehicle intelligent driving stock" on the HKEX and the world's first listed company focusing on unmanned driving in mining areas, with an issuance market capitalization reaching 11.5 billion HKD. CIDI's main businesses cover three major sectors: autonomous driving (mining and logistics vehicles), vehicle-road coordination (V2X/internet of vehicles), and high-performance intelligent perception. In 2024, it was China's largest commercial vehicle autonomous driving company, with a market share of about 16.8%, ranking first in autonomous driving mining truck solutions. By the end of 2025, it had cumulatively delivered over 600 autonomous driving mining trucks. In terms of internationalization, CIDI has listed autonomous mining markets such as Australia, Europe, and South America as strategic priorities, and has achieved small-scale implementation overseas.
Enlightenment: Taking unmanned driving in mining areas as a benchmark scenario to deepen and thoroughly explore, and then expanding horizontally to scenarios such as logistics vehicles and vehicle-road coordination, reflects the global expansion path of "product + technology + integrated operation" with scenarios as the unit.
Scenario Opportunities in Different Overseas Markets
Based on the regional characteristics of different overseas markets, the entry of scenario opportunities can be adapted to local conditions. The Middle East has friendly policies, abundant capital, labor shortages, and a hot climate, making it most suitable for Robotaxi, last-mile unmanned delivery, port, and new energy storage demonstration projects. Australia, South America, Africa, and Indonesia have many open-pit mines and numerous risk factors, serving as a natural application stage for autonomous driving in unmanned mines and electrification in mining areas; it is advisable to go global along with Chinese-funded mining enterprises. Southeast Asia is a port logistics hub with rapid urbanization and cost sensitivity, suitable for ports and last-mile unmanned delivery. Europe has a mature and high-value service market, but the strictest regulatory and data compliance requirements. It is advisable to lay out ports, unmanned logistics, low-carbon transportation, and battery recycling under the premise of compliance first and local joint ventures. Africa and some emerging markets have a high proportion of used cars, weak infrastructure, and price sensitivity, making them more suitable for used car operations and basic charging and battery swapping.
The Key Is Shifting from Selling Products to "Selling Operations"
The biggest difference between Scenario Going Global and simply selling products lies in delivering "results" rather than "hardware." What customers need is not the vehicles themselves, but to "run the scenarios smoothly and get things done." This determines that the model must be upgraded to provide end-to-end complete customized solutions for the operational characteristics, climate conditions, and regulatory requirements of different scenarios, rather than standardized single products. The implementation of the solution is just the beginning; continuous operation, scheduling, maintenance, data, and security services are the core value and user stickiness. Only by connecting all links can long-term and stable income be brought. Ultimately, customers are bound for the long term through a "turnkey" plus operation hosting approach, transforming one-time equipment transactions into long-term operational partnerships.
For enterprises, this means switching the basic unit of global expansion from products to scenario solutions, deepening and thoroughly exploring replicable benchmark scenarios, and then replicating them horizontally. They can "borrow ships to go to sea" by leveraging the overseas projects and channels of Chinese-funded mining, port and navigation, logistics, and energy enterprises, and prioritize creating flagship demonstrations in friendly markets such as the Middle East through joint ventures and cooperation. They should build local operation and service teams, adapt to local climate, roads, and regulations, and win enterprise and government customers with quantifiable benefits in cost reduction, efficiency improvement, safety, and carbon reduction.
Breaking Information Asymmetry and Co-building a Global Scenario Cooperation Platform
The biggest obstacle to Scenario Going Global at present is not technology and products, but information asymmetry. On the one hand, overseas scenarios such as mines, ports, logistics parks, cities, and governments often struggle to find suitable solutions, lacking authoritative and credible channels to connect with Chinese partners. Moreover, due to opaque information and a lack of evaluation and standards, it is difficult for both sides to connect and cooperate. On the other hand, Chinese enterprises have mature solutions and capabilities but are unclear about where the overseas development opportunities and scenarios are. The mismatch of technology and demand between supply and demand has become the most prominent bottleneck for Scenario Going Global.
The solution is to build an authoritative, neutral, and professional global scenario cooperation platform. China EV100 International, as an important platform promoting global automotive cooperation, is taking the lead in carrying out related work. First, taking supply and demand matching as the core, establishing a global scenario and solution information database and matching mechanism, so that both supply and demand sides can see and find each other; second, providing third-party evaluation, certification, and standard references to reduce the cost of building trust with each other; third, organizing matchmaking, field visits, scenario demonstrations, and forum exchanges to promote the implementation of flagship projects with demonstration effects; fourth, collaboratively integrating complete services such as finance, insurance, law, and compliance, transforming scattered and occasional matching into a systematic and sustainable cooperation network through the platform, truly bridging the "last mile" of Scenario Going Global.
How Policies Can Provide Support
Scenario Going Global involves long cycles and large investments, and often involves government public services and infrastructure, which cannot be separated from policy support. It should be included in the support system for overseas investment and service export, providing tailored finance, insurance, and guarantees to solve the funding problems of long cycles and heavy operations; supporting "group global expansion" driven by leading enterprises and coordinated by the industry chain, with industry organizations building platforms to avoid disorderly competition; combining the "Belt and Road" initiative and bilateral cooperation to promote the connection and implementation of flagship projects between governments, and promoting the international mutual recognition of standards and licenses for autonomous driving and electrification; providing compliance guidelines for cross-border data and local regulations, and cultivating compound talents who understand both technology and overseas scenarios and operations.
Based on the above Chinese scenario advantages and global expansion paths, China's automotive industry can transform its unique advantages in intelligence, electrification, and operations into systematic capabilities to help overseas scenarios run through all links. By grasping real scenarios one by one, it will open up a new, differentiated, high-value, and sustainable path for automotive global expansion worldwide.