China's first self-driving taxis started trial operations in Guangdong on Thursday. Passengers can order a ride in one of the driverless taxis using a smartphone app.

 

中国第一批自动驾驶出租车周四在广东试运营。乘客可通过手机app预定乘车。
 

 

The fare starts at 12 yuan (around 1.7 U.S. dollars), which is the same as for other taxis in the city.

 

A laser, radar¹ sensors², and cameras around each car feeds data into an on-board computer that can safely avoid obstacles and follow the road rules as it drives the passenger to their destination.

 

"The self-driving service is capable of sensing any objects around it within 200 meters, and allows for a human to take control of the vehicle when it switches from 'self-driving mode' to 'normal mode'," according to a technician who works on the vehicle.

 

In order to reduce community and passenger concerns about safety during the trial of the new cars, each of the vehicles has a safety supervisor³ who can sit in the driver’s seat to ensure that the car runs in a safe manner.

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