Permission has been granted for Chongqing and Wuhan, two of China’s largest megacities.

Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) announced today it had become the first and only company to offer fully driverless robotaxi services to the public in China, without human drivers in the car. Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service, has been authorized to sell commercial fully driverless robotaxi services to the public on open roads during the daytime in Chongqing and Wuhan, two of China’s largest megacities. (Seeking Alpha)

Inflection point for China’s autonomous driving industry

Government agencies in Wuhan and Chongqing’s Yongchuan District issued the permits to Baidu after the company’s underwent rigorous testing, such as starting with a safety operator in the driving seat, to testing with a safety operator in the passenger seat, before finally receiving clearance.

Baidu will now flag off fully driverless robotaxi services in the designated areas in Wuhan from 9 am to 5 pm, and Chongqing from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Five Apollo 5th gen robotaxis will operate in each city.

The areas of service cover 13 square kilometers in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone, and 30 square kilometers in Chongqing’s Yongchuan District.

“This is a tremendous qualitative change,” said Wei Dong, Vice President and Chief Safety Operation Officer of Baidu’s Intelligent Driving Group. “Fully driverless cars providing rides on open roads to paying customers means we have finally come to the moment that the industry has been longing for. We believe these permits are a key milestone on the path to the inflection point when the industry can finally roll out fully autonomous driving services at scale.”

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Image Credit: Baidu Apollo RT6 Interior