Baidu Is The First In China To Launch An Unmanned Taxi
Baidu has received approval to launch the first fully autonomous robot taxis on China’s roads, overtaking competitors like Pony.ai and XPeng. The service will appear in Wuhan and Chongqing.
The drones of the service have been driving on the roads of Beijing for several months, but in a free mode. They promote public acceptance of the new technology, and an agreement with the city government requires a driver to take over in the event of a problem.
In Wuhan the service will operate from 9 am to 5 pm and will operate in a limited area of 13 km² in the “development zone” – a special area that attracts foreign investment. In Chongqing, the service will operate from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on a 30 km² area in Yongchuan District. At launch, there will be five Apollo 5th generation robot taxis in each city.
The areas in which Baidu will operate are not densely populated, and they have enough new wide roads that are easiest for a drone to drive on. In Chongqing, the Yongchuan area was a pilot area for testing the Apollo autopilot: 30 robot taxis drove a million kilometers to test the safety of the technology.
