The self-driving car tourism market is booming in China.

In recent years, self-driving tours have become a new trend in modern tourism. As people's incomes rise, road systems and services improve, more families own cars, and there are more holidays, people's consumption habits have changed, leading them to want to drive themselves to tourist destinations.

Before 2000, self-driving tours were primarily day trips to nearby destinations. In 2001, group self-driving tours emerged, based on the formation of associations and clubs, and since then, the number of groups and individuals traveling by self-driving car has increased rapidly.

After 2008, self-driving tourism experienced strong growth. For five consecutive years since 2017, the number of people traveling by self-driving car consistently accounted for over 60% of China's total domestic tourists. China's self-driving tourism market entered a boom phase.

Especially since 2020, many people have changed their travel habits, showing a demand for independent travel, self-driving car tours, and outdoor camping in caravans.

According to statistics, self-driving tours have become the primary choice for Chinese people when going on excursions. The "Report on the Development of Self-Driving Tours, Caravan Tourism, and Camping Tourism in 2022-2023" shows that the number of people traveling by self-driving car in 2022 accounted for 74.8% of the total number of domestic tourists.

According to the "Summer 2023 Self-Driving Car Rental Report" published by online travel service provider Ctrip, the number of self-driving car rentals in the summer of 2023 increased by more than 80% compared to the same period in 2022, and by 352% compared to the same period in 2019. This marks the biggest summer boom for the self-driving car rental market in the last five years.

Travel is about enjoying peaceful times, and camping outdoors is the best way for people to get closer to nature. Therefore, the "self-driving + camping" model is becoming a new way to experience nature.

According to data from the website of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism, from 2012 to 2022, the growth rate of searches for the three keywords "camping," "caravans," and "self-driving" increased by 157.8%.

Although self-driving tourism is currently in a favorable development phase, it also faces many challenges, such as insufficient parking spaces in many tourist areas and check-in points, inadequate infrastructure for maintenance, repair, and car washing services, and poor environmental issues related to waste collection and wastewater treatment.