Baidu’s Apollo gets green light to test AD cars in Beijing without on-board safety driver
- Safety drivers will be able to remotely control each of the cars, if necessary, via 5G mobile networks
- New licences were granted by Beijing’s joint regulatory body in charge of AD testing, comprising the city’s Transport and Public Security bureaus
Apollo, Baidu’s autonomous driving (AD) unit, has been granted five licences by authorities in Beijing to test five autonomous cars in designated areas within China’s capital city, without an on-board safety driver.
The development comes after Beijing’s municipal government last month revised regulations for the testing of AD vehicles, giving more scope for companies to replace on-board safety drivers with a remote person.
In Apollo’s case, five safety drivers will be able to remotely control each of the five cars if necessary via 5G mobile networks, according to a statement from Baidu on Monday. Baidu unveiled an autonomous car without an on-board safety driver in a live demonstration in September, with a remote controller taking over the vehicle for several minutes.
On-board safety drivers had previously been a compulsory requirement for AD cars in most Chinese cities. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stipulated in its first AD rules issued in April 2018 that an on-board safety driver must be ready to take over the vehicle at any time in case of system failure.
Beijing has taken a lead in the country’s rollout of next generation 5G networks, which promise higher capacity and reduced latency. The AD industry is high on the economic agenda in both China and the US, although fully autonomous technology has been hard to achieve due to the complexities inherent in navigating busy, real-world traffic environments.