Baidu has secured a permit to operate China’s first-ever fully driverless licensed robotaxis, winning an early lead in the race to launch autonomous cars in the country, reports the Financial Times. The internet group said on Monday it would be able to operate its Apollo Go cars without a safety supervisor on board in the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Chongqing.
Winning the permit has given Baidu, the operator of China’s largest search engine, an edge over its rivals, including Pony.ai, WeRide and AutoX, which are racing to develop fully autonomous driving software systems.
The permit would allow the company to carry out more testing of its vehicles, said Charlie Chai, autonomous driving analyst at Shanghai-based 86 Research.
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