Beijing Baidu said it would soon begin testing driverless cars on US roads, as China’s largest search engine looks to draw alongside the likes of Google and Tesla in developing autonomous vehicles.
Wang Jing, general manager of Baidu’s Autonomous Driving Unit, said the California Department of Motor Vehicles had issued Baidu USA an autonomous vehicle testing permit.
“We will start testing our autonomous driving technologies on public roads very soon in California,” he said. “Baidu has already built a strong team in Silicon Valley to develop autonomous driving technologies, and being able to do road tests will greatly accelerate progress.”