Skip to Content
Uncategorized

Beijing is letting its first driverless cars take to the roads

March 22, 2018

Tech giant Baidu has been granted the first license for testing autonomous vehicles in China’s capital.

The news: Beijing officials gave Baidu license plates for its self-driving cars today. That’s one way of saying that the company will soon take its autonomous vehicles out for a drive on the city’s roads.

Challenging conditions: With pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, and cars jostling for space, Beijing’s roads will be incredibly complex for robotic vehicles to navigate. That’s especially true by comparison with the kinds of suburban roads that many American autonomous cars have been tackling.

Safety questions: That complexity is more notable than ever this week given the Uber crash, in which a pedestrian was killed by one of the firm’s driverless cars. That accident has prompted many experts to question the pace at which self-driving technology is being deployed.

China vs. US: Companies such as Baidu are in a tight race against American counterparts to apply this technology in the real world. For now, the Chinese government has voted for full speed ahead with self-driving cars.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

DeepMind’s cofounder: Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI.

“This is a profound moment in the history of technology,” says Mustafa Suleyman.

What to know about this autumn’s covid vaccines

New variants will pose a challenge, but early signs suggest the shots will still boost antibody responses.

Human-plus-AI solutions mitigate security threats

With the right human oversight, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can help keep business and customer data secure

Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation

From million-dollar slide shows to Steve Jobs’s introduction of the iPhone, a bit of show business never hurt plain old business.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.