Robotaxis ready for hire in Beijing

Beijing has granted licences to tech giant Baidu to operate fully driverless robotaxi services. - Reuters

BEIJING (China Daily/Asia News Network): The scenes in science-fiction movies of people riding unmanned vehicles are becoming increasingly realistic, demonstrated by the recent availability of robotaxis in Beijing, which can be hired via mobile apps.

The city granted licenses to operate fully driverless robotaxi services to Chinese tech giant Baidu and autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai, earlier in March. It marked the first time that a fully driverless fleet of vehicles have been allowed to operate in a major city worldwide.