Baidu Apollo is allowed to test level 4 autonomous on December 21. It has planned to co-operate with Nanjing and Qinhuai in order to work on self-driving technology and innovation, building infrastructure and connectivity.
Hongqi EV is the name of the model developed by Baidu and FAW's Hongqi. The car has got testing licenses in order to be put into road test in Qinhuai district. According to the company itself, the vehicle is China’s only autonomous passenger car, as it comes with factory-installed self-driving technology.
A pilot zone is launched for the IoV (Internet of Vehicles) in Qinhuai. The pilot zone covers approximately 1.62 square kilometers of the area and has 10.67 kilometers of public roads. Soon it will be open the special platform to common users, the drivers who use driver assistant systems and self-driving cars with higher levels. The traffic management authorities will be able to use the area as well.
It was last month when Baidu earned the allowance to carry out some “unnamed” tests in the capital of the country. It is really important to the company since it would be a really big step in the autonomous vehicles’ field.
The license is temporary, since the tests must be carried out without safety drivers. The company is obliged to design and conduct driver free autonomous tests.
Baidu started the R&D self-driving technologies back in 2013 and is very important to the country’s technology and commercialization development. According to Baidu, the Apollo fleet has been to 27 cities through out the country and has travelled almost 7 million km.