After unveiling its new autonomous vehicle (AV) with a detachable steering wheel, China’s search engine giant Baidu Inc has obtained permits to operate fully driverless robotaxi services on open roads in two Chinese cities.
Allowing commercial robotaxis to offer rides to the public without human safety drivers in the car, the permits have been awarded by the central city of Wuhan and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing.
Calling them a “turning point” in China’s policy-making toward autonomous driving, Baidu said it will deploy a batch of five fee-charging robotaxis in each city.
The robotaxis will be permitted to operate in designated areas from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Wuhan and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Chongqing.
While service areas span is 13 sq km in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, it is 30 square km (11.58 square miles) in Chongqing’s Yongchuan District.
Baidu has already deployed robotaxis with a safety driver in the passenger seat in Beijing on open roads within a 60 sq km area.
According to Wei Dong, chief safety operation officer of Baidu’s Intelligent Driving Group, the company is also in talks to secure licenses within a year to test fully-driverless and unpaid robotaxis in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
As regulators are pushing ahead with milestone-setting autonomous driving policies, China has accelerated its efforts to fast-track autonomous vehicle trials and permits.
California Public Utilities Commission permitted self-driving company Cruise to offer paid and fully driverless rides from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in select streets in San Francisco in January.
(With inputs from agencies)
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