China issues first licenses to road test driverless vehicles

China issued licenses to auto makers on Thursday that allow self-driving vehicles to be road tested for the first time, the state-owned Xinhua news agency reported.

Two licenses were offered to Shanghai-based SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, and the other went to electric vehicle start-up NIO, Xinhua reported.

NIO confirmed it received a license. There was no immediate comment from SAIC.

The licenses would allow operators to test drive the vehicles on a 5.6-km (3.5-mile) public road in Jiading District of Shanghai, Xinhua said.

The licenses were issued after Robin Li, the boss of China’s biggest search engine Baidu, tested his firm’s driverless car on Beijing’s roads in July, stirring controversy as there were no rules for such a test, the agency said.

NIO said it had received its license from Shanghai Municipal Government. “We will now be able to further the development of our autonomous driving technologies,” NIO Co-Founder and President Lihong Qin said in the statement.

Shanghai also issued regulations on road tests for such smart cars and said it would promote the application and commercialization of vehicles using artificial intelligence technology and Internet-linked functions, Xinhua reported.

“Shanghai will open more roads for testing smart cars,” Huang Ou, the deputy director of Shanghai Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said, according to the agency.

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Chinese driverless cars finish long-distance road test

Chang’an Automobile’s driverless cars (silver cars at the bottom lane) run across the Yellow River Bridge on Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, April 15, 2016. Two driverless cars produced by Chang’an Automobile in China started a 2,000-km test drive from Chongqing to China’s capital Beijing on April 12 and arrived in Beijing on April 16. Chang’an is aiming to put driverless cars into commercial use in 2018. Worldwide, at least 18 companies are developing autonomous cars, including BMW, Audi and Toyota. China’s contenders include auto makers BAIC group, GAC Group, SAIC Motor, Chang’an and BYD. [Photo/Xinhua]

CHONGQING – Two self-driving cars on Saturday afternoon wrapped up a 2,000-km (1,240 miles) journey in China’s first long-distance road test for autonomous vehicles.

The vehicles, produced by Chang’an Automobile, left the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing on Tuesday and arrived at Beijing at about 5 p.m. Saturday.

The cars successfully drove distance from other vehicles, changed lanes, overtook and performed other maneuvers including three-point turns automatically but still need the help of a driver in certain road sections and gas stations, the designers said.

The maximum speed of the cars reached 120 kilometers per hour.

Tan Benhong, deputy director of the Chang’an Automobile Engineering & Research Institute, said they would improve the technologies based on the results of the test and then to prepare for mass production.

Chang’an plans to put driverless cars into commercial use in 2018, Tan said.

Worldwide, at least 18 companies are developing autonomous cars, including BMW, Audi and Toyota. China’s contenders include auto makers BAIC group, GAC Group, SAIC Motor, Chang’an and BYD.