Fully Driverless Taxis Are Now Roaming This City in China

Self-driving cars. You’ve seen them in movies, from Bumblebee of the Transformers to the iconic Batmobile. But as seen in recent technological advancements, it could soon be a reality. 

On Thursday, the Alibaba-backed tech company AutoX rolled out a fleet of 25 fully driverless cars onto public roads in Shenzhen, China. While other companies that previously tested their autonomous cars were required to have a safety driver in the vehicle, AutoX’s RoboTaxis are roaming the streets completely unmanned. The Shenzhen-based start-up claims to be the first in China to do this. Compared to other initiatives, AutoX said it is not relying on backup drivers or remote operators. 

A video released by AutoX shows a Fiat Chrysler Pacifica minivan roaming downtown Shenzhen all on its own. Passengers hop in, while other people load and unload boxes. At one point, a dog even enjoyed a ride on its own. On the test run, the minivan navigated around trucks and cyclists on the road and stopped for pedestrians at crossings. 

This is a milestone that comes nearly five months after AutoX was granted permission to conduct driverless testing in San Jose, California. The taxis, however, are only on trial mode at the moment and are not yet available to the public. AutoX hopes to expand its program to regular passengers in the next two or three years, CNN reported. 

“We have obtained support from the local government. Shenzhen is making a lot of rapid progress on legislation for self-driving cars,” an AutoX representative told Tech Crunch. 

In 2017, Beijing became the first city in China to introduce regulations for autonomous driving tests on the road. Later, in 2019, authorities issued the first national-level set of regulations for such tests. 

Autonomous vehicles prove to be a big market in China as automakers and technology firms invest billions of dollars in what is being called the future of transportation. The global autonomous driving market is estimated to be worth $24.3 billion by 2025. 

In May, Chinese technology company Baidu finished building what is billed as the world’s largest test ground for autonomous vehicles. It houses over 200 self-driving vehicles with plenty of facilities to aid in the development process, from research to testing. Other big players in the autonomous vehicle race in China include local ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and driverless car start-up Pony.ai.

Of course, developments are also happening in other parts of the world. Self-driving vehicles have taken to the roads in places like the United Kingdom and Singapore, but these tests still required the presence of a safety driver. In October, autonomous driving tech company Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, made its fully driverless vehicles available to the public in Phoenix, Arizona.