Baidu’s Apollo autonomous autos granted licence to check in Hong Kong By Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Baidu (NASDAQ:) has obtained the licence to examine autonomous autos with its Apollo robotaxi service in Hong Kong as a result of it expands its footprint exterior Chinese language language mainland.

Baidu Apollo Worldwide Ltd was accredited to conduct trials for 10 autonomous automotive in North Lantau, in response to a press launch launched by Hong Kong’s Transport Division on Friday.

The license will seemingly be reliable from Dec. 9, 2024 to Dec. 8, 2029, with only one self-driving automotive engaged on specified freeway sections at a time in its first part, in response to the assertion.

All through the trial, a backup operator stationed on board shall take over administration of the automotive if compulsory, it added.

The Hong Kong authorities has since a minimum of 2017 actively promoted autonomous autos, nonetheless has solely simply these days allowed wider trials of autonomous autos along with on public roads following the rollout of a model new regulatory legal guidelines in March this 12 months.

That’s the main pilot licence given out by the Hong Kong authorities given that introduction of the model new regulatory regime.

It moreover marked Baidu’s first recognized permit for autonomous automotive testing exterior mainland China.

The company’s robotaxi service Apollo Go is working in a lot of Chinese language language cities, with an important fleet of better than 400 autos in central China’s Wuhan metropolis.

As rivals to commercialize autonomous autos heats up, Baidu plans to launch its robotaxi service exterior mainland China, along with Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported remaining month.