China's Baidu rolls out driverless taxi service

Chinese tech giant Baidu rolled out its paid driverless taxi service on Sunday. Unlike previous Baidu autonomous driving demonstrations in Beijing, this is the first time that no one is behind the wheel, but a safety member is sitting in the front passenger seat in case of emergency. Running in an area of about 3 square kilometres, about 10 Apollo taxis pick up and drop off passengers at eight stops in western Beijing's Shougang Park.

The robotaxis were repeatedly forced to brake when encountering jaywalkers or curious tourists who came very close to the vehicles for photos. Passengers can call a robotaxi on Apollo Go apps. When the taxi arrives, passengers verify their identities and scan a health code before getting in. The taxi will start to move after detecting that passengers have fastened their seat belts. Each ride costs 30 yuan.