Baidu tops list of autonomous vehicle road tests in Beijing

A total of 14 companies tested 87 autonomous vehicles on Beijing roads last year, with 55 from Chinese technology company Baidu, according to the capital city's annual report on autonomous vehicles' road tests.

Beijing has 200 road sections in four districts and counties, and their combined distance reach almost 700 kilometers, as the city promotes autonomous driving initiatives.

According to the report, Baidu also topped the list of companies in terms of testing mileage. Its vehicles ran for over 1.1 million kilometers in the year, which accounted for almost 96 percent of those by all the companies combined.

Over the past three years, Baidu finished a cumulative mileage of over 2 million in the city.

It was the third year in a row that the company had ranked No 1 in the number of test vehicles and the mileage they covered.

Late last year, the company also won five permits for driverless vehicle testing in the city. It also launched the robotaxi service in Beijing in October, as part of its autonomous vehicle passenger service pilot.

By the end of 2020, over 15,000 passengers tried the service, and over 90 percent of them said that they would like to try it again.