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| China is testing fully self-driving cars for the first time |
The Chinese self-driving car maker (AutoX) said it has begun testing fully self-driving cars in Shenzhen, China. The advantage of these cars is that they do not require the intervention of the driver when necessary.
With support from the Alibaba Group, the company announced on Thursday that it was the first time that a fully autonomous vehicle had been on the streets of China.
In the past, many independent taxi projects have been launched in Chinese cities. However, these vehicles require an emergency driver or someone to drive remotely.
“The unmanned vehicle tests were conducted over a period of six months to determine how the vehicles would perform under various road conditions,” Auto X said in a statement.
There are currently more than 100 autonomous taxis being tested in Chinese cities, 25 of which are fully autonomous vehicles in Shenzhen, said AutoX CEO Jules Li (CNBC).
The company's CEO, Jianshang Shao, said that fully automated taxis are not yet available to the public. This only applies to company employees and distinguished guests such as the media, business partners, investors and automobile manufacturers.
Li said the next step might be to increase the number of cars, expand the testing area, and test in more cities. She added, "We plan to expand the pilot coverage to 10 cities around the world during the next six months."
(Lee) said: Maybe one of those cities is in Southeast Asia, but it didn't specify a city. "We are excited about the Southeast Asian market and believe it will be the next developing market," she added.
(Lee) said AutoX has an advantage in Southeast Asia over other autonomous drive systems developed and tested in the West. Because the streets of Asia are very similar to the streets of China.
It's also worth noting that AutoX has launched a self-driving test service in Shanghai and acquired a license to test autonomous vehicles to drive safely without a driver in parts of San Jose, California.