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Didi Pilots Autonomous Ride-Hailing in Shanghai

Shanghai government awarded Didi permits to test its AV fleet on August 28.

September 3, 2019
Didi Pilots Autonomous Ride-Hailing in Shanghai

Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of Didi Chuxing, made the announcement at Shanghai’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference, where Didi is showcasing robo-taxi hailing with its autonomous driving fleet on a closed track.  

Photo via Didi.

1 min to read


As Didi Chuxing accelerates its robo-taxi project, passengers will be able to hail self-driving vehicles from its app in a pilot robo-taxi service in Shanghai.

Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of Didi Chuxing, made the announcement at Shanghai’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference, where Didi is showcasing robo-taxi hailing with its autonomous driving fleet on a closed track.  

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Shanghai government awarded Didi permits to test its AV fleet on August 28. Zhang announced that Didi will deploy 30 different models of L4 autonomous vehicles to provide pilot robo-taxi services in Jiading District of Shanghai.

Given the complex traffic and road conditions in the megacity, Didi will begin the program with a mixed dispatching model, which will combine both autonomous vehicles and human-driving vehicles for the duration of the pilot robo-taxi project.

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