Two enterprises in Beijing E-Town, Pony.ai and WeRide, were granted the city's first batch of licenses to conduct commercial trials of autonomous driving shuttle services between E-Town and Beijing Daxing International Airport terminal on June 27.
This marks the start of fee-based autonomous driving shuttle services to Daxing Airport.
These are the first enterprises in Beijing to obtain commercial trial licenses for autonomous driving on high-speed roads with human drivers.
In terms of booking, passengers can use apps like "Pony.ai" or "WeRide Go" to reserve airport shuttle services.
Pick-up locations include multiple stations within E-Town and designated points at the first floor for boarding and the fourth floor for disembarking at Daxing Airport terminal.
Regarding pricing, both enterprises have announced a flat-rate fee structure for the Daxing Airport autonomous driving services, similar to urban area pricing rules, with no additional charges for highway tolls.
Passengers can use the app to track vehicle status and estimate fares during the journey.
Earlier data shows that since the introduction of passenger-carrying autonomous driving demonstrations at Daxing Airport in February this year, nearly a thousand orders have been completed by the end of May.
The launch of commercial trials for autonomous driving shuttles at Daxing Airport represents a significant step forward based on prior testing and demonstrations by these enterprises.