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.

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