Large-scale commercial use could become reality sooner than expected

Large-scale commercial use of self-driving technologies could become a reality sooner than expected, as tech companies are beefing up efforts to conduct passenger tests on unmanned vehicles, build out vehicle-to-everything infrastructure, and promote the application of superfast 5G technology.

Chinese internet search giant Baidu secured 40 licenses to test self-driving vehicles carrying passengers on designated roads in Beijing on Dec 30, 2019. To date, the company has obtained 120 such licenses.

It has conducted road tests in 23 cities across the nation, with the tested self-driving cars traveling more than 3 million kilometers in total, and filed 1,237 patents on intelligent driving.