Baidu, a Chinese web-based service provider, has secured what it claims are the nation’s first ever permits for commercial self-driving robotaxis on public roads.
The autonomous vehicle (AV) hailing service, named Apollo Go, can now reportedly collect fares for riders with no human driver in the metropolitan areas of Chongqing and Wuhan.
The company claims the permits’ approval will open opportunities for the expansion of autonomous ride-hailing across the country.
Wei Dong, vice president and chief safety operation officer of the intelligent driving group at Baidu, said: “This is a tremendous qualitative change.
“Fully driverless cars providing rides on open roads to paying customers means we have finally come to the moment that the industry has been longing for.
“We believe these permits are a key milestone on the path to the inflection point when the industry can finally roll out fully autonomous driving services at scale.”
Both cities where the permits were granted have been developing AV infrastructure and regulation for some time.
According to Baidu, five Apollo fifth generation robotaxis will operate in each city. In Wuhan, they will run from 9am to 5pm, and in Chongqing from 9:30am to 4:30pm.
The permit approval process reportedly involved multiple-stage testing and licensing, both with and without human operators.
Some of the robotaxi’s safety features include monitoring redundancy and a remote driving function, both of which are backed by a reported test mileage of more than 32 million kilometres (almost 20 million miles) driven by Baidu’s AVs to date.
Baidu claims its Apollo Go service has become the world’s largest robotaxi service provider and that it recently passed more than one million orders.
