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The Tagsgovernments of several major cities in China’s affluent Guangdong province announced on Dec. 27 that they have struck a mutual recognition agreement of permissions to test self-driving vehicles, which marks a big step forward in the development and adoption of autonomous vehicles in the region. The move will allow companies to test their robocars on public roads in the districts of Qianhai and Bao’an in Shenzhen, the Nansha district of Guangzhou, and Hengqin island in Zhuhai, once they get a permit from any of the local governments.

Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions are also expected to join the agreement, as part of a broader goal to establish China’s biggest area for self-driving car tests in the Greater Bay Area, which includes Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. Several Chinese companies have become the first beneficiaries of the effort, including Pony.ai, a Nasdaq-listed robotaxi developer, as well as Apollo Go, the autonomous ride-hailing platform launched by Chinese tech giant Baidu.

Pony.ai said it operates around 250 robotaxis in a combined area of 2,000 square kilometers (772 square miles) in China’s four top-tier cities, which include Beijing and Shanghai, while having set up 3,000 pick-up and drop-off points in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The news comes just one week after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed new rules that would allow companies to sell and commercialize driverless cars in a less time-consuming way, Reuters reported. [TechNode reporting, 21st Century Business Herald, in Chinese, Reuters]

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