Originating from Silicon Valley and deeply rooted in Japan, how did this robotics company successfully expand into 30 countries? | Pioneers in Global

Introduction:

Going global is no longer an option for enterprises, but there are still many choices in the way of going global. Brand going global, supply chain going global, cross - border e - commerce... Behind each model, there are countless stories of arduous exploration by Chinese companies; North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America... On every distant continent, there are more and more international presences of Chinese brands.

From introducing foreign investment forty years ago to "going global in groups" today, Qiantang, as the main front of Hangzhou's export - oriented economy, has always been the bridgehead for enterprises to transform themselves and break through for innovation. The China Enterprises International Service Center has been paying long - term attention to overseas markets and enterprises going global. Based on this, in 2025, we launched a new column "Wave Riders Going Global" to find benchmark enterprises going global in various fields, disassemble practical cases from a professional perspective, precipitate methodologies in the process of seeking consensus, and explore differentiated development paths in non - consensus.

The following is the sixth article in this column.

Since the beginning of the year, Li Meng, who lives in Qiantang District, Hangzhou, has noticed that there is an extra strange - looking small vehicle in front of Aeon Mall, a nearby shopping center.

The small vehicle looks more like a transparent space that can move autonomously. Inside, there are only two rows of symmetrical seats, no steering wheel or driver's seat like a traditional car, and the panoramic windows on both sides also serve as doors.

This small vehicle is also called RoboBus, a robotic product developed and designed by PIX Moving. If you prop up the panoramic window on one side of the RoboBus and put in a vending machine, the interior space will turn into a self - service retail store (RoboShop), which can move to a designated location to provide on - door service.

PIX Moving originated in Silicon Valley, the United States. Based on the core technology of the skateboard chassis, through digital manufacturing technologies such as AIGC and 3D printing capabilities, it provides solutions for unmanned robots. It has successively received investments from Silicon Valley venture capital firm SOSV, A - share listed company Kanshe Co., Ltd., and Japan's TIS Corporation. The latest round of Series B1 financing was completed at the end of 2024, led by Zheshang Venture Capital, and the funds come from the National SME Development Fund and Huzhou Chang Sanhe Holding Group.

Different from most technology innovation enterprises that first complete the commercial closed - loop in the domestic market and then carry out global expansion, PIX Moving chose to start with markets with relatively higher labor costs but greater potential demand for unmanned and robotic products, such as Japan and Europe, from the very beginning of its establishment.

Currently, PIX Moving has gradually accumulated stable customers and achieved mass production in these core markets. Next, it plans to launch diverse product forms according to more scenario requirements and gradually enter emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

At the same time, PIX Moving is also expanding its domestic market around scenarios such as industrial parks and commuting. Recently, PIX Moving signed a cooperation agreement with Guangzhou Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area, and the new - generation RoboBus will be officially put into operation in the 5A - level scenic area of Guangzhou Baiyun Mountain.

The global shortage of bus drivers has spawned a business worth hundreds of millions of yuan

Before launching products such as unmanned buses, PIX Moving first turned the intermediate technology in the R & D stage into a sliding chassis product and carried out preliminary commercialization. Yu Chuan, the founder and CEO of PIX Moving, said, "Our original intention is to make urban robots, and the entrepreneurial idea we follow is to take out whatever we have and let the market test it. The traction and feedback from the market drive product development." "It's easier than directly launching a whole - vehicle product."

Facing the public's psychological anxiety about "being replaced by robots", Yu Chuan said that the consensus in the field of robot R & D is that "instead of directly replacing human labor, we focus on supplementing scenarios with a shortage of human labor." Based on this consensus and the market feedback on the skateboard chassis, PIX Moving found that there is a widespread shortage of bus drivers globally, especially in relatively developed regions such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. "People who have traveled to rural Japan may have experienced waiting for a bus for more than an hour."

Japanese society has long entered an aging stage, and the polarization of urban - rural development has further exacerbated the aging degree in rural areas. A large number of rural elderly people have exceeded the legal driving age, so the insufficient supply of public transportation caused by the serious shortage of bus drivers has become a long - standing livelihood problem in rural Japan. According to statistics from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the average age of bus drivers exceeded 53 years old in 2022. The Japan Bus Association estimates based on employment conditions that by 2030, the employment gap for bus drivers in Japan will exceed 36,000.

In 2023, PIX Moving launched its first unmanned product, the RoboBus, in Japan. According to the trend of miniaturization and customization of public buses, the RoboBus is positioned as a small - sized bus with less than 10 seats. In February 2025, the RoboBus won the iF Design Award in Germany.

Compared with the European region, Japan will be the market where PIX Moving first achieves large - scale sales. The core reason is that in addition to market demand, the local legal and regulatory environment also provides conditions for the faster implementation of unmanned products.

Although many European countries also lack bus drivers, their legal control over autonomous vehicles is relatively conservative and strict. Japan, on the other hand, revised its Road Traffic Law in April 2023 and became the world's first country to allow L4 - level unmanned vehicles on public roads. To solve the problem of difficult travel in rural areas, Japan has also proposed the national strategy of the "Digital Rural - Urban Project" to support technological product solutions such as unmanned driving.

In addition to the RoboBus, PIX Moving has launched a variety of products such as unmanned retail vehicles and unmanned cleaning vehicles. Its market covers more than 30 countries around the world, with hundreds of customers and partners. In the European market, PIX Moving cooperated with a European startup original equipment manufacturer to launch the mass - produced model Robo - EV. Yu Chuan introduced that the Robo - EV is a two - seat new energy vehicle. Based on the skateboard chassis technology and modular design, it is designed according to the European L7e - level standard. The finished product will be exhibited and launched at the German Auto Show in September.

PIX Moving is currently actively expanding into the South Korean and Southeast Asian markets, and the order volume from Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is also growing rapidly. According to 36Kr Pro, as of the end of 2024, PIX Moving's orders reached hundreds of millions of yuan.

Meet the needs of various scenarios with AI + digital flexible manufacturing capabilities

Yu Chuan introduced that currently, intelligent robot products on the market can be divided into three categories according to the underlying motion technology logic: Articulated robots such as embodied robots, robot dogs, and industrial robotic arms; aerial robots in the low - altitude economy field such as drones; and wheeled robots such as unmanned cleaning vehicles and AGV transport vehicles in logistics factories.

PIX Moving's unmanned products belong to wheeled robots. The key technology lies in the wire - control system responsible for the robot's movement, which is similar to the "cerebellum" part of the human body and is also the field where PIX Moving excels. Since its establishment in 2017, PIX Moving has applied for more than 200 relevant manufacturing patents in China, Europe, and the United States.

In terms of manufacturing paradigms, PIX Moving's innovation lies in using its self - developed large - scale metal 3D printing system, moldless forming system, and composite material forming technology, combined with its own vehicle parametric design algorithm, to flexibly define the product form of the upper part of the skateboard chassis according to different usage scenarios.

By highly modularizing and integrating the manufacturing process, this flexible manufacturing paradigm reduces 60% of automobile parts and assembly work, thus significantly shortening the development cycle, reducing production costs, and overcoming the limitations of the traditional automobile model in small - batch and customized production needs.

The RoboBus, in addition to being used in the rural bus system in Japan, can also be modified into a sightseeing shuttle bus in parks and scenic areas, a commuting tool inside industrial parks, universities, and other areas, or as a supplement to urban rail transit to solve the scattered commuting within the last 3 - 5 kilometers.

In addition, based on the skateboard chassis technology, PIX Moving has jointly developed a mobile energy - storage robot with a globally leading ICT company to solve the shortage of electric vehicle charging facilities in Europe and Japan; the indoor service robot jointly developed with Japan's TIS is currently in operation at the TIS Toyosu Building.

"These niche scenarios are not attractive to large automobile enterprises, but they are very suitable for enterprises like PIX Moving with AIGC technology. Once we discover a certain niche demand, we can quickly manufacture the product through software definition." Yu Chuan said.

To quickly increase production capacity to meet the increasing order demand, PIX Moving is building a new mass - production factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang this year, which can produce 1,000 RoboBuses annually. Yu Chuan said that choosing to build a factory in Huzhou is largely due to the advantages of the Yangtze River Delta region in the automobile manufacturing industry and the concentration of scientific research and entrepreneurial talents. Currently, the company is also further promoting the establishment of its R & D department in Hangzhou.

Against the background of increasing uncertainty in the global trade environment, PIX Moving's "AIGC + digital manufacturing" paradigm also supports teams around the world to directly download design data from the cloud and print vehicle parts locally through metal 3D printing, thus achieving global distributed manufacturing capabilities and coping with the impact of tariff policy fluctuations to a certain extent.

Deeply cultivate the Japanese market from the supply chain to the organization

"Our current relatively fast development in Japan is actually related to the accumulation in the previous few years," Yu Chuan introduced. PIX Moving started to expand its Japanese customers in 2018. After several market surveys, it gradually understood the Japanese market demand and determined the product direction. In March 2023, PIX Moving officially promoted the process of going global to Japan and registered a Japanese subsidiary with the help of the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro).

In fact, the first step for PIX Moving to enter the Japanese market was not the product but to cooperate with well - known Japanese universities and institutions to produce teaching courseware on autonomous driving and artificial intelligence knowledge and jointly organize training programs such as summer camps, engineer training, and hackathons, so as to establish connections with local industrial resources and gradually participate in government projects.

"Slow - warming is the biggest characteristic of the Japanese market. The process of building trust between people and between enterprises is relatively long," Cao Kuangning, the vice - president of PIX Moving, said at an event of the China Enterprises International Service Center in March this year. "The Japanese business habit is to often visit in person. So, if you really want to do well in the Japanese market, you must have a resident institution and personnel locally to establish a long - term trust relationship with partners."

Within six months after the establishment of the Japanese subsidiary, the PIX Moving Japan team kept visiting customers. By October, it determined a three - year business plan for Japan based on market research and received bulk orders in November.

In June 2024, PIX Moving established a joint venture with its investor, IT system integration listed company TIS, in Japan, with its headquarters in Tokyo. PIX Moving also jointly built a factory with TIS in Maizuru, Kanagawa, 60 kilometers away from Tokyo.

"The Japanese are very cautious when it comes to cooperation. They must see the products actually produced in the factory before they can trust you and be willing to sign a contract with you. Just saying that you have a company and a factory in China is hard to work," Cao Kuangning told us.

In 2025, PIX Moving plans to expand its local Japanese team to about 40 people, including business development and factory production personnel. Yu Chuan said that in the early days of the establishment of the Japanese company, it preferred to recruit Chinese employees with long - term living and working experience in Japan. As the business deepens, it also starts to recruit more local talents who have worked in multinational companies and have cross - cultural experiences. "People with such backgrounds generally have stronger tolerance and are more adaptable to collaborating with teams from different cultural backgrounds."

However, the layout of local talents is not easy. In Japan, the recruitment cycle for a position is generally 3 - 6 months. Different from the highly competitive workplace environment in China, the young labor force in Japan is relatively in short supply, and it is often the young talents who choose the enterprises.

In response, Yu Chuan said, "We may have a little confidence in the Japanese local market because what we do is quite cool and the products are also very interesting, which still has a certain appeal to young people. Moreover, our company has been an international team since its establishment, and the Japanese team may also be more receptive."

Moreover, for Chinese enterprises going global, communication management with local employees and two - way cultural integration are also major challenges. To improve the collaboration efficiency of overseas employees and reduce communication costs, PIX Moving introduced AI technology in its cross - regional daily operations, integrating the company's internal knowledge database on the "AI Co - CEO" platform. When overseas team members don't understand the product technical details, they can directly call them up from the AI Co - CEO, avoiding the troublesome process of communicating with the Chinese technical team.

"I think honest communication is the most crucial. We always emphasize that PIX Moving is an international team. We should respect and understand the differences in different regions and not blindly pursue the consistency of the global team," Yu Chuan said.

It is reported that in addition to Japan, PIX Moving will also dispatch and recruit local employees in major key markets such as Europe. For other emerging markets under development, at this stage, it will first rely on the support of ecological partners to promote the global expansion layout in different regions.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Hangzhou Qiantang Enterprise Going Global Service Base". Author: Qiantang Going Global. Published with authorization from Qiantang.