China recently issued its first permits to test fully autonomous vehicles on open urban roads to WeRide, a smart mobility start-up headquartered in Guangzhou. It means no one needs to be sitting in the driver’s seat during the tests. This is also the world’s second remote-control permit.
The permit is granted by the Guangzhou authority and it allows fully autonomous vehicle tested in a limited area of the city’s designated testing fields for intelligent connected vehicles.
According to WeRide, the vehicles to run the fully autonomous tests are all equipped with the 5G remote control function which allows operators to control remotely whenever the vehicle runs into unusual circumstances such as a temporary road block. The company’s operators have finished more than 1000-hours training to provide reliable safety guarantees.
In addition, WeRide rolled out its autonomous taxi service, Robotaxi, to the public back in November 2019. The area covers more than 144 square kilometers of the center of Huangpu in Guangzhou Development District. Currently there are over 200 pick-up/drop-off spots. Thus far, there has been no accidents reported at all. But for the time being, there is a technical crew in every Robotaxi to guarantee safety.
Users can access WeRide’s Robotaxi service through WeRide Go application or Amap application, one of the most widely-used ride hailing apps in China. The service is available from 8am to 10pm every day, and will be free of charge until July 23rd.
