Baidu’s Chinese technology companies Apollo Go and Pony.ai announced on Thursday that they have received permission from Beijing city authorities to remove the security driver for part of their robotics business in the suburbs.
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BEIJING – The capital of China is one step closer to allowing ordinary people to travel by robotics without a driver.
For the first time in the country, two Chinese companies – Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai – announced on Thursday that they had received permission from Beijing city authorities to remove a safety driver for part of their robotics business in the suburbs.
Cars will still need an employee to sit inside, but it is no longer required to be in the driver’s seat.
This is a move to allow companies to run a robotics business without having to pay for staff to service the cars – completely eliminating the cost of a taxi driver. It remains unclear when the Chinese government will allow robotaxis to charge tolls for unmanned cars.
In the United States, Alphabet’s Waymo and GM’s Cruise subsidiary can now operate public robots without human staff in the vehicles. Laws for testing robots and boot riders vary by city and state.
Waymo can charge customers for its robot, which operates in Arizona, while Cruise is awaiting approval for a final permit to charge riders in San Francisco.
Tu Le, founder of Beijing-based consulting firm Sino Auto Insights, said GM’s Cruise can run its driverless robotics service in San Francisco only at night, while the latest easing of restrictions in Beijing allows almost robotless drivers to work. during the day .
This will allow Chinese operators to collect more data during periods of higher traffic.
Under the new permit from the city of Beijing, Baidu said he could drive 10 robots without safe drivers and planned to add another 30 such vehicles at an unspecified later date.
Pony.ai may initially operate four robot taxis without safety drivers under the new rules and expects to add more in the future, a spokesman said.
Beijing authorities in the Yizhuang suburbs confirmed that Baidu and Pony.ai received new robotaxi approvals at a news conference on Thursday. The government added that the operating area has tripled to the equivalent of about 23 square miles.
The busy six months for China are changing the rules for robotaxi
The rules for testing and working with robotaxi also vary depending on the region in China.
The latest move by the city of Beijing comes less than six months after the municipality allowed Baidu and Pony.ai to charge robotics fees in the Yizhuang suburb. Ticket approval was the first of a major city in China.
Baidu said his Apollo Go robotaxi business subsequently began charging fees in Chongqing municipality in southwest China and the smaller, central Chinese city of Yanquan in February. Cars still need a safe driver.
On Sunday, the Nansha district of southern Guangzhou gave the Pony.ai technology-driven robot axis the same designation as traditional taxis – the first such license in China. The license allows Pony.ai to charge fees in the area. Currently, cars have safety drivers.
– Michael Wayland of CNBC contributed to this report.
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