- Baidu ( NASDAQ: BIDU ) said on Friday that it had been granted the first license in Beijing to test an autonomous vehicle with safety operator as a backup.
- In an email obtained by Seeking Alpha, Baidu ( BIDU ) said the move would pave the way for a paid, fully driverless robotaxi service in China's capital after seeing success in Wuhan and Chongqing.
- Pony.ai, backed by Toyota ( TM ), was also granted a license to test autonomous vehicles in Beijing, Reuters reported .
- Baidu ( BIDU ) also noted that it was expanding the operation area, fleet size and hours of its robotaxi service in Wuhan.
- Next year, the company hopes to add an additional 200 fully driverless robotaxis and put them into operation.
- Baidu ( BIDU ) shares fell 1.5% to $113.42 in premarket trading on Friday.
- Earlier this month, the Nasdaq said that Baidu ( BIDU ) would drop out of the Nasdaq 100 amid several changes to the closely watched index .
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Baidu starts testing autonomous vehicles with no safety operator in Beijing