SHANGHAI: Chinese search engine giant Baidu and Pony.ai said today they have won permits to provide fully driverless ride-hailing services in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
With the permit, Baidu's Apollo service will deploy 10 fully autonomous vehicles in a technology park developed by the government of Beijing, it said in a statement.
The permit marks a step forward from December, when Baidu said it had been granted a license to test the service. Baidu will now operate driverless robotaxi services in three Chinese cities including Wuhan and Chongqing.
The Beijing-headquartered company, which generates most of its revenue from its internet search engine, has been focused on self-driving technologies over the past five years as it looks to diversify.
Pony.ai, backed by Toyota Motor , said in a separate statement that it had also received such a permit from Beijing city. It already operates a robotaxi service in the southern city of Guangzhou.
![Baidu-company-provide-fully-driverless-autonomous-ride-hailing-services-multiple-cities](https://da4dkroembtou.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Baidu_company_provide_fully_driverless_autonomous_ride_hailing_services_multiple_cities-1024x566.jpg)