China's Baidu to operate driverless taxis in two cities

Credit: Imaginechina

Chinese tech giant Baidu has obtained permission to operate fully driverless taxis commercially on public roads in the cities of Wuhan and Chongqing.

Baidu will offer the commercial robotaxi service – with no driver present – in some areas of the two cities via the company's autonomous ride-hailing platform Apollo Go.

Baidu said it would implement redundant monitoring and parallel driving to ensure passengers' safety.

Baidu has launched a pilot service on Apollo Go in various Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

In recent years, China has rolled out a series of policies to promote the development and commercialization of self-driving technology.