Chinese self-driving startup approved for open-road tests

GUANGZHOU -- China's smart mobility company WeRide announced last Friday that it has obtained government approval to conduct test runs of its self-driving vehicles on open roads in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province.

The Guangzhou-based company said the test runs will be completely driverless, meaning no safety personnel will be on board to take over the steering wheel if the needs arise.

Instead, the current test road, located on the Guangzhou International Biology Island, is fully covered by the 5G network, and this allows the company to control the vehicles remotely under special circumstances.

The start-up company, which has L4-class autonomous driving technologies, last year rolled out self-driving taxi services in Guangzhou, with each journey overseen by a safety supervisor.

Over a dozen Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have been approved to conduct road tests for self-driving vehicles. In Guangzhou, at least six companies have been approved to conduct road tests of their intelligent connected vehicles.