Daimler gets green light for self-driving vehicle tests in Beijing

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s capital city has given the green light to German auto maker Daimler AG to test self-driving cars on real roads, making it the first international car maker to be granted such a license in Beijing, the company said on Friday.

FILE PHOTO - The Daimler AG sign with raindrops is pictured before the company's annual news conference in Stuttgart, Germany, February 4, 2016. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle/File Photo

Beijing has given Daimler, owner of the Mercedes brand, a permit for highly automated driving (level 4) test area road use in the capital city after extensive close-course testing, the company said in a statement.

China has issued licenses allowing self-driving vehicles to be road tested to several auto makers this year in Shanghai and Beijing, including Shanghai-based SAIC Motor Corp, electric vehicle start-up NIO and tech giant Baidu Inc.

To qualify for the license, the company said Mercedes-Benz vehicles equipped with additional technical applications from Baidu Apollo undertook extensive testing in Beijing and Hebei for intelligent mobility.

Reporting by Pei Li and Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman

(Original source)