Visiting China's Capital City? Don't Be Surprised If Your Taxi Has No Driver

Over 2 million passengers have ridden in Baidu's Apollo Go autonomous vehicles as of the end of January 2023, the company says. "The city is also exploring pathways to operate autonomous driving vehicles [to] the city's nearby airport, serving the wider Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Baidu says. Baidu launched its autonomous driving service in 2017, according(Opens in a new window) to the South China Morning Post. Its vehicles operate with Level 4 autonomous driving, with Level 5 being the highest (see our explainer). But autonomous driving is a notoriously thorny AI problem due to the infinite scenarios a vehicle may encounter on the road.