China’s search engine giant Baidu said on Monday it had obtained a license to operate fully driverless robotaxi services on open roads from two Chinese cities, the first of its kind in this country.
The permits, issued by the southwestern municipality of Chongqing and the central city of Wuhan, allow trade robot to provide rides to the public without a safe driver in the vehicle. They go into effect on Monday.
Baidu said it marked a “turning point” in China’s policymaking towards autonomous driving.
“These licenses have profound implications for the industry,” Wei Dong, director of safety operations at Baidu’s Intelligent Driving Group, told Reuters in an interview. “
First, Baidu will deploy a series of 5 toll collection robots in each city, where they will be allowed to operate in designated areas from 9am to 5pm in Wuhan and 9:30am to 4pm. :30 p.m. in Chongqing, the company said in a statement.
The business areas span 30 square kilometers in the Yongchuan District of Chongqing and 13 square kilometers in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone.
In April, Baidu’s Apollo and Toyota-backed Pony.ai says that it has received a license in Beijing to deploy the robot without a human driver safely in the driver’s seat on open roads in an area of 60 square kilometers. But Beijing’s license still requires them to have a safe driver in the passenger seat. These services have started.
Baidu is also in talks with local governments in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, to secure licenses within one year to test fully unmanned and unpaid control robots in these cities. , according to Wei.
China’s efforts to fast-track autonomous vehicle testing and licensing come as US regulators are also pushing for key policy-settings on autonomous driving.
In January, self-driving company Cruise received a license from the California Public Utilities Commission that allows it to offer fully driverless and paid rides from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on some roads. Selective Streets in San Francisco.
Apollo Go, Baidu’s robotaxi service, has operated more than 1 million trips across 10 Chinese cities since its launch in 2020.
Baidu did not report any problems with the service and did not give a specific figure on how much it has invested in the project.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
