Chinese authorities issue no new robotaxi licenses for now

At the end of March, dozens of robotaxis stopped in Wuhan. This has consequences for the entire industry, as decided by three Chinese ministries.

Therefore, no new licenses for autonomous vehicles will be issued. This was decided after a video conference between representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Transport with representatives from cities where autonomous vehicles are in operation, reports the US business news agency Bloomberg, citing insiders.

During the video conference in mid-April, the ministries urged the municipalities to “initiate self-inspections and corrective measures and strengthen safety supervision,” according to a post by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on the Chinese microblogging service Weixin. It should be ensured that “test and demonstration activities are carried out safely and in an orderly manner.”

The responsible authorities, in turn, want to improve the regulations for autonomous driving. This includes, among other things, introducing “a three-tier assessment system for technical maturity and safety at the national, local, and corporate levels.”

Fleets cannot be expanded

According to Bloomberg, this is the second time that the issuance of licenses has been suspended following an incident involving Baidu. The duration of this regulation cannot be estimated, informants told the news agency. For the companies, this means that for now they cannot expand their fleets of autonomous vehicles, offer their services in new cities, or start new pilot projects.

In the incident on March 31st, around 100 autonomous taxis from Baidu stopped in the middle of the road in Wuhan and could no longer be moved. The cause was presumably a system failure at Baidu.

Internet giant Baidu, which operates, among other things, the largest search engine in China, is one of the largest providers of autonomous taxi services in the country, alongside competitors Pony.ai and WeRide. Baidu's vehicles are in operation in various cities, with the fleet in Wuhan being the largest, comprising over 1000 vehicles.

(wpl)