- Tech giant Baidu has received Beijing’s first licenses to test self-driving vehicles on the capital city’s roads.
- The cars, which are permitted to travel on 33 roads spanning 105 kilometers (65 miles), took their first drive in Beijing on Thursday.
- Earlier this month a self-driving Uber was involved in a fatal crash in Arizona, raising questions of the technology’s safety.
- While Uber and Toyota have temporarily halted self-driving testing, Baidu is pushing forward as China tries to position itself as a leader in autonomous vehicles.
China’s capital city has given the green light to tech giant Baidu Inc to test self-driving cars on city streets, just days after an autonomous Uber vehicle killed a woman in Arizona.
Beijing gave Baidu, best known as China’s version of search engine Google, a permit to test its autonomous vehicles on 33 roads spanning around 105 kilometers (65 miles) in the city’s less-populated suburbs, the firm said in a statement.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
NOW WATCH: Goldman Sachs is telling its multimillionaire clients not to worry about valuations or inflation
See Also:
- Toyota will temporarily stop its self-driving-car tests after fatal autonomous Uber accident
- Self-driving cars could face a ‘huge setback’ after the tragic death of a woman struck by an autonomous Uber
- A self-driving Uber struck and killed a woman — here’s a look at how its autonomous cars work
SEE ALSO: Beijing police are using facial-recognition glasses to identify car passengers and number plates
