Beijing city proposes to include autonomous vehicles in ride-hailing services

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Recently, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology solicited public feedback on the "Beijing Autonomous Driving Vehicle Regulations (Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft"). The draft supports autonomous vehicles that meet relevant regulations to carry out road tests, demonstration applications, demonstration operations, and road transport service pilots in a safe and gradual manner.

Pony.ai's Robotaxi in Beijing; photo credit: Pony.ai

The proposed scenarios for these innovative activities include urban public bus services, ride-hailing, car rentals, road freight transport (excluding dangerous goods), shuttle services, sanitation cleaning, and security patrols.

Additionally, the draft supports the development of key component industries, the establishment of quality inspection and testing institutions for autonomous vehicle parts, and the orderly opening, authorized use, and circulation of autonomous vehicle data. It aims to establish a cooperative mechanism for data development and utilization across the autonomous vehicle industry chain.

The draft states that the purpose of these regulations is to align with existing laws and national policies on intelligent connected vehicle access and pilot projects. It focuses on solving major issues faced by autonomous vehicle innovation activities in specific areas of Beijing, ensuring safety while providing clear, transparent, and predictable regulations for Level 3 and higher autonomous vehicle market entities.

Since September 2020, Beijing has been at the forefront of autonomous driving innovation, planning and constructing the nation's first high-level autonomous driving demonstration zone, integrating vehicle, road, cloud, network, and mapping elements to validate key technologies.

As of now, the demonstration zone has issued road test licenses to 31 companies, with autonomous driving test distance exceeding 28 million kilometers. By the end of the year, the city expects to achieve full coverage of intelligent roadside infrastructure across 600 square kilometers.