Robotaxi to hit the streets

The future is here: A safety operator observing the driverless taxi on one of the designated testing areas in Shanghai. — China Daily/ANN

Shanghai will launch a public testing programme for its driverless taxi services as soon as next week, marking a step forward in the city’s pursuit of intelligent and connected autonomous vehicle applications.

Shanghai officially issued the first permits for demonstration applications of the driverless vehicles to four companies on July 4. Over the past two weeks, autonomous driving companies have been preparing and fine-tuning their systems before initiating public testing, which will be free of charge to citizens.