(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- Chinese internet giant Baidu has received China’s first permits to offer fully driverless ride-hailing services, that have neither a driver nor safety officer present in the car, in two major metropolises, in a big step towards the full-scale deployment of unmanned vehicles on the country’s roads.

Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service also known as Radish Run, has been authorized to charge for robotaxi rides in designated areas of Chongqing, in the southwest of the country, and Wuhan in central Hubei province, the Beijing-based company said yesterday.

“Fully driverless cars providing rides on open roads to paying customers means we have finally come to the moment that the industry has been longing for,” said Wei Dong, vice president and chief safety operation officer of Baidu’s Intelligent Driving Group. “We believe these permits are a key milestone on the path to when the industry can finally roll out fully autonomous driving services at scale.”

Five Apollo 5th generation robotaxis will operate in each city. They will serve an area of 13 square kilometers in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone and an area of 30 square kilometers in Chongqing’s Yongchuan district.

Baidu has already received permits to offer robotaxi services, with a safety officer present in the car, to all four first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Since it was launched in September 2020, Apollo Go has provided more than one million robotaxi rides to consumers, the firm said earlier.

Editor: Kim Taylor