Baidu (NASDAQ:), the Chinese exertion giant, has been granted a licence to trial its autonomous vehicles successful Hong Kong done its Apollo robotaxi service. The license, issued by the Transport Department of Hong Kong connected Friday, allows Baidu Apollo International Ltd to behaviour trials with 10 autonomous vehicles successful North Lantau.
The licence is acceptable to beryllium valid for a five-year period, starting from December 9, 2024, until December 8, 2029. Initially, the investigating signifier volition licence lone 1 self-driving car connected specified roadworthy sections astatine immoderate fixed time. As a information precaution, a backup relation volition beryllium contiguous connected committee to presume power of the conveyance if necessary.
This improvement comes arsenic portion of Hong Kong's broader inaugural to clasp autonomous driving technology. The authorities has been actively promoting the usage of autonomous vehicles since astatine slightest 2017 and has precocious expanded trials to see nationalist roads, pursuing caller regulatory authorities enacted successful March this year.
The issuance of this aviator licence by the Hong Kong authorities is simply a archetypal nether the caller regulatory model and represents Baidu's inaugural licence for autonomous conveyance investigating extracurricular of mainland China.
Baidu's robotaxi service, Apollo Go, presently operates successful respective Chinese cities and boasts the largest fleet successful Wuhan, cardinal China, with implicit 400 vehicles.
Amid intensifying contention successful the autonomous conveyance industry, Baidu aims to widen its robotaxi operations beyond mainland China to regions specified arsenic Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East, arsenic reported by the Wall Street Journal past month.
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