The autopilot test carried out by Pony.ai, a company in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area. [Photo/kfqgw.beijing.gov.cn]

During the 2021 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference (WICV), Beijing opened 227 autonomous driving test roads totaling 762 kilometers in length and issued 644 sets of temporary autonomous driving test license plates for 105 vehicles made by 16 companies.

Before self-driving taxis go on the road, they need to pass a rigorous review. Following the establishment of the R&D center in Beijing in March 2017, Pony.ai entered the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BDA) in June 2019.

From the laboratory stage to the test field, and the open test roads in the BDA, Baidu Apollo and Pony.ai became the first companies in the area to obtain a manned test license for autonomous driving. 

"The BDA has established an intelligent networked vehicle policy pilot zone, built an open policy management system, and also has the longest open test road for autonomous driving in the country. This has created a good policy environment and road test conditions for us, encouraging us to explore new products, new technologies and new model applications," said Zhang Ning, vice president of Pony.ai.

The BDA also provides many support policies in terms of R&D space and high-end R&D talents, bringing an important impetus to the rapid development of Pony.ai. This is also the reason why more autonomous driving companies are choosing to settle in the BDA.

There are more than 50 intelligent networked automobile companies in the BDA, including Truck.tech and Neolix.