By Qiaoyi Li and Brenda Goh
BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese capital Beijing on Tuesday passed new regulations to encourage autonomous driving technology in the city, with authorities planning to eventually allow driverless public buses and taxis.
Autonomous vehicles that pass a road test and safety assessment will be able to apply for a road trial, the state-run Beijing Daily newspaper reported, which said the new regulations would take effect on April 1.
The city supports the use of autonomous vehicles for passenger cars, city buses, trams and taxis, it said, adding that it wants to encourage the construction of intelligent road infrastructure to support such transport.
In a separate announcement on Monday, the central Chinese city of Wuhan also said it had approved regulations to promote the development of intelligent connected vehicles.
Chinese authorities have aggressively green-lighted trials of self-driving technology with at least 19 cities conducting robotaxi and robobus tests, Reuters reported in August.
Companies with large fleets of robotaxis in use in China include Apollo Go, a subsidiary of tech giant Baidu (NASDAQ:), which plans to deploy 1,000 robotaxis in Wuhan by the end of 2024.
Pony.ai, which hit the US market in November, plans to expand its robotaxi fleet nationwide to over 1,000 by 2026 from 250 this year.
Other companies exploring robotaxi opportunities in the world’s largest automotive market include WeRide, AutoX and SAIC Motor.
US EV giant Tesla (NASDAQ: ) also aims to bring fully self-driving (FSD) to China in the first quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approval, and has said it will start producing its own robotaxis in 2026.
