Baidu, Pony.ai get China’s first robotaxi licenses

Search engine giant Baidu and autonomous driving firm Pony.ai got the green light from regulators for their driverless taxi operations, allowing them to charge a yet-to-be-determined rate, reported Bloomberg.

As the first license recipients for self-driving taxis, the two tech firms’ respective robotaxi fleets will operate within the Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area. Baidu will have 600 pickup and drop-off points between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., while Pony.ai will run 200 points of their own from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Baidu’s third quarter earnings report said that its 13% growth was buoyed by its AI cloud business, which saw a 73% year-on-year increase.

Toyota-backed Pony.ai, on the other hand, recently shelved its US listing plans through a blank-check firm, following fears of backlash from the Chinese government.

See also: Delivery bots may arrive sooner than you think