Pony.ai wins license to roll out fully unmanned robotaxis in Shenzhen
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Shenzen, China, will soon have unmanned cars roaming its streets. An agreement between autonomous driving companies and local authorities has paved the way for the launch of a commercial pilot project for such unmanned cars.
China Daily reported that the contract was signed between the administrative body of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone in Qianhai, the travel website Ontime, and autonomous driving service provider Pony.ai.
The project, which will be the first of its kind in China, will cover key areas such as tourist attractions, central business districts, exhibition centers, airports, and an urban area with an ocean theme in Qianhai, a part of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
The agreement states that Pony.ai and Ontime will work together to establish a skilled robotaxi operations team in Qianhai to investigate commercial multiparty business models and enhance the operational capabilities of unmanned ride-hailing vehicles in terms of management systems, responsibility distribution, and safety oversight, according to China Daily.
Change in laws to enable Robotaxi services
Most autonomous driving projects are still mandated by law to have a driver on standby to take over controls if required. In contrast, the initiative will do away with the jobs of drivers and front-seat passenger safety officers, thereby eliminating the requirement for a person to be present at all times.
China has seen many of the provinces adopt policies to enable firms to start offering fully autonomous robotaxi services in recent years.
Shenzhen became the first city in China to permit fully unmanned autonomous driving services on the roads in August 2019 after legislation on intelligent connected vehicle management went into force.
Growing interest in the sector
Since more cities, including Chongqing, Wuhan, and Beijing, have approved fully driverless autonomous driving commercial demonstration services, Chinese autonomous driving companies, including Baidu Apollo, Pony.ai, AutoX, and Deeproute.ai, have increased their investments and promoted various types of robotaxi services nationwide, reported China Daily.
The recent agreement will see a travel services provider getting actively invested in an autonomous driving project with the involvement of Ontime for the first time. In Guangzhou of the Guangdong province, the firm began operating manned and autonomous vehicles in October last year, making it the first travel platform in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to realize such robotaxi operations.
In the US, San Francisco is set to become the first city with two fully driverless services competing against Uber, Lyft, and traditional taxis. Cruise, which is part of General Motors and Waymo, a spinoff from Google, is planning to achieve their goal before the end of the year.
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