Tuesday, May 3, 2022 –-China has introduced first ever automatic taxi to run on their road without any driver taking control of the wheel. Details have emerged.
After a long struggle to have these cars in the market, finally China has a breakthrough with two tech firms having already acquired operating permits.
Chinese companies – Baidu Inc. and autonomous driving startup Pony.ai – last week made the good announcement saying they were glad to pioneer this technology that will push the robotaxi ride-hailing services to another level.
The permits are allowing their vehicles to drive without an operator behind the wheel, although there must be an on standby operator sited on the front passenger seat to take control just incase something goes wrong.
The company owners say the permits are only designating them a 23-square miles operations space in Beijing City where they are receiving a warm and positive reception.
Currently, there are more than 200 companies in tech and auto which are also jostling for the product that could take the lucrative automotive industry by storm.
Miles away in San Francisco US, Google’s driverless subsidiary, Waymo, has been testing its autonomous cars to see if they are worthy taking the roads. However, China still ranks top of the countries now in the manufacturing of the autonomous four wheeler.
