China’s Baidu Receive Green Signal For Self-Driving Car Tests In Beijing

Capital city of China has offered the green signal to tech behemoth Baidu Inc to trial self-driving vehicles on city roads, a significant action as the nation seeks to boost its place in the worldwide race for self-directed cars. Beijing has offered Baidu, best recognized as Google of China, a license to trial its self-directed cars on 33 streets spanning almost 105 Kilometers (almost 65 Miles) in the less-populated areas of city, the company claimed to the media in an interview.

Baidu is leading effort by the country in driverless tech, with Beijing eager to level up with worldwide competitors such as Tesla and Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet. Baidu has a main project for self-driving dubbed as Apollo. “With helpful policies, we think that Beijing will turn out to be a growing center for the self-directed driving market,” Zhao Cheng, the Vice-President of Baidu, claimed to the media in an interview.

China rolled out licenses to auto manufactures permitting self-driving cars to be road trialed in Shanghai previously this month, which comprised NIO, the electric vehicle start-up, and SAIC Motor Corp Ltd., the Shanghai-located firm.

Lately, Baidu made a panel association to promote self-driving cars, which was an attempt of pitting against Alphabet Inc’s system by its Apollo platform. The alliance comprises partnerships with suppliers, automakers, universities, startups, and local governments and is made around Apollo self-driving platform of Baidu that was designed at its technology center in Silicon Valley of California.

Apollo is targeted at Waymo self-driving package of Alphabet. Amongst the main development associates on Apollo are mapping expert TomTom NV, and Nvidia Corp, which concentrates in artificial intelligence and microprocessors. Baidu has claimed that its aim is to get self-driving cars not only on the roads of China but ultimately in other markets, comprising the U.S.