On January 3rd, "fully driverless" vehicles started operating in Nansha District, Guangzhou.
Recently, the Nansha District in the city of Guangzhou launched a pilot program for the commercialization of intelligent autonomous vehicles. The company Pony.ai was the only one selected for the pilot program. According to the requirements, Pony.ai's "fully driverless" vehicles will have toll stations distributed in major areas in Nansha District. Operating from 8:00 to 22:30, the driverless taxis will charge passengers according to the standard taxi fares in Guangzhou.
To hail such a taxi, users can choose "fully driverless" vehicles through the app "PonyPilot+" and even customize the color of the greeting lights through the app.
In 2022, Pony.ai obtained a taxi business license and started the operation of its self-driving vehicles in Nansha, but each car still had safety supervision personnel inside at the time.
In Guangzhou, if a fully autonomous vehicle is to transition from road testing to commercial operation, it needs to obtain permits for remote testing and passenger testing. It also needs to participate in the pilot program for the commercialization of autonomous driving. During this process, the vehicle must meet the requirements for operational mileage, emergency response, and security redundancy design.