China's Didi Gets Approval to Test Autonomous Cars in California
May 14 2018 - 10:24AM
Dow Jones News
By Austen Hufford
China's ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing Technology Co. has been
approved to launch live trials of autonomous vehicles on roads in
California, becoming the latest company to explore advanced driving
technology in the U.S. as safety concerns remain in the
spotlight.
Didi joins a list of established and young technology and
automotive companies that are allowed to test drive autonomous
vehicles on California roads with a safety driver present. The
California Department of Motor Vehicles said there are 53 companies
with permits, including ride-hailing company Lyft Inc., Intel
Corp., Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo and Chinese internet-search company
Baidu Inc.
Didi opened its main U.S. research facility in Mountain View,
Calif., last year to focus on developing artificial intelligence,
including for autonomous driving. The approval from the California
state regulator is the company's first license for testing on
public roads in the U.S.
"We have been testing our vehicles in closed internal
environment for a while," Didi Senior Communications Director Liang
Sun said in an email. The company is still finalizing its plans to
begin U.S. road trials but said it would be done in a "prudent and
safety-first" manner.
Uber Technologies Inc. let its own permit lapse in California at
the end of March after one of its self-driving vehicles struck and
killed a pedestrian crossing a street in Arizona.
In 2016, Didi acquired Uber's China operations after a costly
battle for dominance in the Chinese market. The Wall Street Journal
reported last month that Didi is holding discussions about
potentially having a multibillion-dollar initial public offering as
early as this year.
The move also comes as Didi is facing scrutiny of its
ride-hailing operations in China. On Friday, the company said it
would suspend one of its driving services in China for a week amid
widening public outrage over the death of a passenger. A
21-year-old woman who booked a ride through Didi was allegedly
killed by her driver in a central Chinese city, according to
police.
Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2018 10:09 ET (14:09 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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