For the first time in China, people will be able to get a taxi ride without anyone behind the wheel
Baidu and autonomous driving startup Pony.ai announced Thursday that they had won the country's first permits to provide robotaxi ride-hailing services to the public. The permits do not require an operator to sit in the driver's seat. The services were introduced in Beijing on Thursday, and allow passengers to call for taxis using each company's respective apps during daylight hours.
It said it would start off with 10 vehicles under the program and add 30 more later.Pony.ai, a fast-growing startup that was founded by former Baidu engineers in Fremont, California, said that as many as 300,000 residents in Beijing would be able to try out the experience. The company is backed by automakers including Toyota , and was last valued at $8.5 billion.
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