Beijing has finally approved its first autonomous taxis for commercial use. The Chinese capital brings dozens of the so-called “robotaxis” to the streets. These taxies look like normal taxies but it has nobody inside who is driving it. It will communicate with customers digitally to obtain directions and take payment.
The vehicle will only carry two passengers at a time. These taxies will be first seen in southern Yizhuang area of Beijing. An employee of the taxi firm will also be there in the front sit in case of any sudden intervention, the person will handle it. But the vehicle will drive itself.
This is a significant step taken by Chinese tech giant Baidu and start-up Pony.ai to fulfil their driverless ambition. Through they did not get the permission to operate the taxies without any human intervention because of regulations and safety purposes.
The two organisations also hope that Chinese consumers will soon get used to with the sensation of travelling in a car without a driver. The taxies have already made 500,000 trips during their earlier testing stages.
Users need to download “Luobo kuaipao” app to use the “Apollo Go” robotaxis.
