‘RoboCops' Deployed in Chinese Cities
Artificial intelligence-powered robot police officers have begun appearing on the streets of several Chinese cities, adding a whiff of sci‑fi novelty to basic traffic and safety duties.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for comment by email.
Why It Matters
These machines are among the latest example of China’s advances in humanoid robots-an industry President Xi Jinping touted during his New Year's Eve address. China has also poured resources into artificial intelligence in recent years, applying it across transportation, logistics, manufacturing and public services.
What To Know
Pedestrians and cyclists in Wuhu, a city in eastern China’s Anhui province, have been receiving traffic instructions from “Intelligent Police Unit R001,” manufactured by AiMOGA Robotics, according to the state-owned Xinhua News.
“For your safety, please ride bicycles in the non‑motorized lane,” the automaton said after spotting a cyclist riding in the car lane, per the outlet.
Since last year, these specific humanoid robotic police units have been gradually introduced to Wuhu and other cities, including Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Chengdu in Sichuan province.
Robots have also become increasingly visible in China’s public spaces. During the pandemic, various automated patrol robots enforced COVID‑19 regulations. Restaurants have adopted robot servers, and quadruped robot dogs have been developed for potential security or military‑adjacent purposes.
Meanwhile, China is pushing ahead with efforts to embed artificial intelligence into everyday life, including efforts to improve the safety and efficiency of transportation.
Government guidelines released in September say that by 2027, AI will be widely used across “typical scenarios” in the transportation industry, supported by a comprehensive large‑model system. Twenty pilot zones are already testing various applications, such as warehouse scheduling and multimodal transport.
What People Are Saying
Zhang Guibing, the general manager at AiMOGA Robotics, told Xinhua: “Only by bringing products into real‑life scenarios and collecting real operational data can we achieve rapid iteration.”
Jiang Zihao, a traffic police officer in Wuhu, told the outlet of the Intelligent Police Unit R001: “It is a new colleague capable of assisting us effectively.”
What Happens Next
The Development Research Center of the State Council projects China’s embodied intelligence industry, or AI built into physical robotic systems, will reach a market size of 400 billion yuan, or about $56.5 billion, by 2030 and surpass 1 trillion yuan by 2035.
Newsweek
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 4:19 AM.