By Theo Burman
Live News Reporter
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Officials in Beijing passed new regulations last week that are taking the city one step closer to being driverless after allowing road trials for autonomous vehicles to take place, paving the way for the technology to develop further.
Newsweek has contacted the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport for comment via email.
Why It Matters
China is a world leader in autonomous vehicle technology, ranking second only to the United States in terms of patents related to driverless cars. Any advances in the Chinese market will have an impact on American authority in the space, and giving driverless cars access to the streets of Beijing provides the ideal urban test area for new developments to be made.
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The move will put pressure on American equivalents. Elon Musk's Tesla is the largest producer of vehicles with "autopilots" in the U.S., with testing still underway for advanced versions of the technology.
What To Know
Beijing officials approved road trials for autonomous vehicles in the city provided that they pass road testing and safety assessments, with the goal of making the city more friendly towards driverless cars in the long term.
The new rules will enter effect on April 1, 2025, meaning companies will have time to get models approved for road testing over the next few months before the policy changes take place.
Reuters reported that Wuhan, along with 18 other cities, was also adopting similar policies, in a nationwide push to ready the country for more developments in the technology.
Automated cabs are the focus of the policy, with Chinese company Apollo Go already trialing hundreds of "robotaxis" on the streets of Wuhan, reducing the cost of cab fares to just a few cents.
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What People Are Saying
City officials in Beijing have said that the policy is designed to encourage the construction of intelligent road infrastructure to support such transport.
RoboTaxi giant Apollo Go said that its rollout of autonomous cabs would be gradual, saying: "Our robotaxi fleet currently complements, rather than replaces, existing transport options."
What Happens Next
Chinese companies will take advantage of the new policies by ramping up driverless car rollout in the country's busiest urban areas. Apollo Go alone plans to deploy 1,000 robotaxis across Wuhan by the end of 2025.
Tesla also plans to make a space for itself in the Chinese market, with plans to bring its Full Self-Driving feature to China at some point in 2025, along with its own robotaxi line planned for a 2026 launch.
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