Connected Car
Chinese tech giant Baidu has won a permit to operate a fully driverless ride-hailing service in Beijing. Baidu is often considering to be the Chinese equivalent of Google, offering online searches alongside a suite of other products and services. The last five years has seen it increase its involvement in driverless technology as part of efforts to diversify its business model. The new Beijing service has received government approval to run in the Beijing suburb of Yizhuang, which is a corporate hub. Last August, Baidu was given the go-ahead to launch robotaxi services in the cities of Wuhan and Chongqing, marking the first time that fully driverless cars took to mainland Chinese roads.