Baidu Receives License To Test Autonomous Vehicles With No Safety Operator In Beijing

(RTTNews) - Baidu Inc. (BIDU) said that it received the first license to test autonomous vehicles with no safety operator on board in Beijing, paving the way for launching paid fully driverless robotaxi service in the China's capital city after the success in Wuhan and Chongqing.

The company plans to put an additional 200 fully driverless robotaxis into operation across China in 2023, aiming to cover the largest fully driverless ride-hailing service area in the world by the end of the same year.

Earlier this week, Baidu also announced a major expansion of its commercialized fully driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan, tripling the size of its operation area, increasing the number of robotaxis in service and expanding operating time to include key evening hours.