CaoCao Inc (02643), which just released its 2026 interim results, is positioned at a critical inflection point for its second major growth leap. The company's structural strengths are highly evident in its operating performance. During the first half of the year, revenue reached RMB 10.3 billion, representing a 9% year-on-year increase, while gross transaction value climbed 13.6% to RMB 12.4 billion. Gross margin improved from 8.7% to 9.0% compared to the same period last year, signaling further enhancement of profitability.
More significantly, CaoCao Inc officially initiated its comprehensive AI transformation during the first half of the year, unveiling its RoboX strategy and upgrading its positioning to a "globally leading physical AI mobility technology platform." This strategic pivot reflects the company's astute assessment that competition in the mobility industry is rapidly shifting toward "system capability competition." The mid-year report carries a dual narrative encompassing both current performance and future potential, with value that extends beyond validating present operational quality to offering a critical lens for understanding the company's long-term growth trajectory.
Fundamentals Continue to Strengthen Amid AI Transition
Despite being in a strategic transformation phase, CaoCao Inc's fundamentals continue to solidify according to the interim report. As of June 30, the company's services covered 215 domestic cities, with 20 new cities added during the first half. This sustained expansion of the service network has directly driven growth on both the user and supply sides of the platform. Average monthly active users reached 44.6 million during the period, up 17.1% year-on-year, while average monthly active drivers grew 36.8% to 758,000. The synchronized growth in supply and demand has provided a solid order foundation for the company's steady business expansion.
The continuous improvement in profitability represents the most compelling aspect of this mid-year report. Gross margin reached 9% in the first half, improving year-on-year through two clear pathways. First, economies of scale from business expansion have reduced marginal costs, while enhanced brand awareness has effectively lowered customer acquisition expenses. Second, the "CaoCao Brain" transaction engine has continued leveraging AI technology to optimize algorithms, releasing efficiency gains in both driver dispatch and user operations. It becomes evident that CaoCao Inc's profitability improvement is not reliant on any single cost-reduction measure but is built upon systematic enhancements in operational efficiency.
Furthermore, the company holds over 38,000 customized vehicles across 31 cities, representing the largest fleet of its kind domestically. Total cost of ownership for these customized vehicles is approximately 36.4% lower than typical battery electric vehicles. Leveraging 448 battery swap stations within the Geely ecosystem, the company achieves 60-second rapid battery swaps, with maintenance time and costs reduced by 25% and 54% respectively. These structural cost advantages provide additional support for strengthening profitability.
RoboX Strategy Accelerates Deployment, International Expansion Opens New Growth Avenues
Changes with more long-term significance are accelerating at the strategic level. In AI development, CaoCao Inc established an AI business unit and AI Innovation Center during the first half, with Turing Award laureate Joseph Sifakis serving as chief scientific advisor. As one of the first mobility industry partners, the company has also joined the Doubao AI ecosystem, jointly developing an AI-powered ride-hailing service with Doubao in June, which is currently undergoing gray-scale pilot testing. From organizational construction to ecosystem collaboration, AI is becoming the core driver for optimizing user experience and enhancing business efficiency.
Commercialization progress in the RoboX business is likewise accelerating. During the reporting period, CaoCao Inc deployed 140 second-generation Robotaxis. The company also unveiled Eva Cab, China's first native Robotaxi, in April, having been deeply involved in its product definition and development, with mass production planned for 2027. On the international front, CaoCao Inc has identified Hong Kong and the UAE as its initial priority markets, with plans to deploy Robotaxi fleets in Hong Kong. In June, the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Abu Dhabi-based partner K2 to jointly advance Robotaxi projects. Given that RoboX's core economics lie in replacing human labor and improving vehicle utilization rates, and overseas markets feature higher labor costs that amplify these advantages, CaoCao Inc possesses substantial expansion potential in international markets.
Strategic Elevation Enhances Growth Visibility
From an industry perspective, the autonomous driving mobility sector is transitioning from technical validation to the critical stage of scaled deployment. Intelligent driving technology routes are gradually converging, and leading industry players have preliminarily established platform capabilities across multiple scenarios. CaoCao Inc's decision to launch its comprehensive AI transformation at this juncture will further strengthen its existing capabilities.
Regarding competitive moats, CaoCao Inc's core advantage lies in its full-element closed-loop capability. The fleet of 38,000 customized vehicles provides a large-scale hardware foundation, deep collaboration within the Geely ecosystem connects the entire technology chain from manufacturing to intelligent driving, and 11 years of mobility operation experience has accumulated scenario data and dispatch capabilities. The combination of these three elements means that CaoCao Inc's RoboX deployment is built upon the systematic release of existing capabilities.
Looking at the company's plans, its strategic roadmap is already clearly defined. CaoCao Inc aims to deploy a cumulative total of 100,000 Robotaxis by 2030, and is currently in the second phase of its "three-step" strategy, transitioning from safety-driver operations to unmanned operations while exploring mixed manned and unmanned driving models. As conditions mature further, the company will initiate large-scale operations globally using natively developed Robotaxi models.
Reviewing CaoCao Inc's mid-year report, the company's fundamentals are on a healthy trajectory with scale expansion and profitability improvement advancing in tandem. Meanwhile, the accelerating formation of the AI and RoboX strategic curves opens up more imaginative growth space. While the market's perception of CaoCao Inc may still be that of a mobility service provider, the contours of its "physical AI mobility technology platform" identity are already taking shape. For investors, the significance of this interim report lies in the fact that CaoCao Inc is positioning itself ahead of the curve for the industry's next transformation, with the company's value reassessment poised on the horizon.