Chinese internet giant Baidu has launched fully driverless ride-hailing services in Beijing, demonstrating a new commercialisation model for autonomous driving.

From this month, passengers can experience a real driverless autonomous driving service at Beijing’s Shougang Park. Visitors at the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be able to ride the robotaxis as a regular transport option at the games.

This is China’s first paid autonomous vehicle service where users can hail a robotaxi without a safety driver behind the steering wheel, marking a step on the road to commercialisation of autonomous driving. The fully driverless Apollo Go Robotaxi service has been launched in Shougang Park – one of the venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – and will be transporting visitors at the games.

By using the Apollo Go App, users can locate a robotaxi in the vicinity and hail a driverless ride by themselves through a system of unmanned self-service processes. Features such as virtual reality navigation and remote car honking can help users identify the location of the car. To unlock the autonomous vehicles, users are required to scan a QR code and health code on the car for identity verification and pandemic prevention purposes.

Upon boarding the vehicle and clicking on the start the journey button, the system will ensure that seat belts are fastened and the doors are shut, the trip only beginning after all the passenger safety protocol checks are completed. With no safety driver at the helm, a 5G remote driving service is present at all times to allow human operators to access the vehicles remotely in the case of exceptional emergencies.

At Shougang Park, the robotaxis can transport users to sports halls, work areas, coffee shops and hotels. During the upcoming Winter Olympics, the robotaxis will be available to provide shuttle services for athletes and staff.

“Introducing unmanned services is an indispensable stage for the commercialisation of autonomous driving,” said Yunpeng Wang, vice president and general manager of autonomous driving technology at Baidu. “We are opening the fully driverless robotaxi services in Beijing for the public, which we achieved only after conducting countless scalable driverless tests in many cities over a long period of time.”

He said in the future, Baidu Apollo would launch driverless robotaxis in more cities, enabling the public to access greener, low-carbon, and convenient travel services, while continuing to improve the unmanned service process and user experience.

“The commercialisation of autonomous driving can alleviate congestion effectively and help to reach the peak carbon dioxide emissions and achieve carbon neutrality in China,” he said.

Since October last year, Baidu has carried out autonomous driving tests for the public under trial operations in areas such as Yizhuang, Haidian and Shunyi in Beijing. Baidu Apollo is moving forward to the next stage of scalable commercialised operations with the launch of the fully driverless robotaxi services in the capital, as a starting point of commercialised operations in first-tier Chinese cities. Baidu Apollo recently announced the completion of over ten million kilometres of road testing for autonomous driving.

Last month, consulting firm Guidehouse named Baidu as one of the top autonomous driving vendors in the world, with Baidu the only Chinese company listed on the leader board. Baidu has been investing in autonomous driving for eight years, and has established a car fleet of 500 vehicles for autonomous driving trials. The company has been granted 2900 patents for intelligent driving and 221 test drive licences, among which 179 are to test self-driving cars for carrying passengers.

Founded in 2000, Baidu is an AI company with strong internet foundation.