Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing has announced that it will start using self-driving vehicles in a district of Shanghai before hopefully expanding the scheme internationally by 2021.
The free-of-charge service will allow passengers who hail a vehicle in the city’s Jiading district via Didi’s app to choose to be picked up by a self-driving car.
More than 30 different vehicle models equipped with SAE Level-4 autonomous driving capabilities will be offered in the pilot service. A human driver will also be seated in each car.
Didi hopes to have the driverless taxis in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen by 2020 and intends to launch outside the country the following year.
The company is also in talks with Toyota, with which it set up a joint venture last month focused on mobility services and self-driving technology.
According to Didi’s chief technology officer Zhang Bo, transportation technology providers will form alliances that provide a combination of a ride-sharing network and an ability to make cars.
“There will be no more than three alliances that can provide a real product,” he said. “Self-driving vehicles will be one of the most important areas in artificial intelligence over the next 10 years.”
Earlier this month, Didi spun-off its autonomous driving unit into an independent company that will focus on research and look to deepen collaboration with automakers, with Zhang Bo as its CEO.
