Baidu and Pony.ai announced last week that they have received permits to offer fully autonomous ride-hailing services in the Chinese capital, Beijing.
As early as 2022 it became clear that this is what it is all about. Baidu and Pony.ai are ready to offer their robotic taxi fleets to humans. At that time the licenses were issued.
Baidu’s Apollo service will deploy ten fully autonomous vehicles in a technology park developed by the Beijing government, according to the Chinese company. Baidu will now offer driverless robotaxi services in three Chinese cities, including the cities of Wuhan and Chongqing.
The vehicles will have neither human drivers nor security operators. Beijing-based Baidu, which derives most of its revenue from its Internet search engine, has focused heavily on autonomous driving over the past five years.
Pony.ai, created by Toyota announced in a separate statement that it also received such approval from the city Beijing have received. The company already operates a robotaxi service in the city of Guangzhou.