The Chinese company gets a license from the Chinese government to test its driverless robotaxis.
Soon to be completely driverless; Image: IEEE Spectrum
Baidu is now allowed to conduct tests in Beijing to test the safety of a fully autonomous car. For this purpose, 10 vehicles are to be tested on a test site built by the Chinese government.
Many companies, such as Ford, GM, Volkswagen and Tesla, currently have many problems regarding fully autonomous driving. Tesla is being investigated to see if the cars would really be safe without a driver. Ford and Volkswagen stopped the program in October, saying it would need more time and money, as assumed in 2019.
Baidu, whose revenue comes mainly from its own search engine, has no problems there, however. The "Apollo Go" program already gained a foothold last year, offering 1.4 million driverless rides in Chongqing and Wuhan last quarter.
