Mercedes-Benz gets Beijing self-driving license

Daimler has become the first foreign car-maker to be granted an autonomous vehicle testing license for China’s roads.

The company released a statement on Friday confirming its new license for Level 4 self-driving prototypes covered roads in Beijing, Shanghai and roads and highways in between.

The Chinese government has given similar licenses to its homegrown car-makers, like the Beijing-based BAIC, the Shanghai-based SAIC, tech company Baidu and start-up car-maker (and Formula E contender) Nio.

Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz and smart, has an extensive history of self-driving test and development dating back more than two decades and even has its own specialised self-driving test facility in Immendingen, in Germany’s south-west. It already has self-driving licenses for public roads in Germany and the United States.

The qualification test for its license included testing with government officials in the cities of Beijing and Hebei (China’s National Pilot Zone for Intelligent Mobility), plus the mandatory adoption of some of Baidu’s Apollo applications.

“Our R&D in China results in concrete innovations that allow us to achieve sustainable development today and into the future,” said Mercedes-Benz China’s head of R&D, Professor Doctor Hans Georg Engel.

“This expanded research into automated driving will provide a strong base for developing further automated driving technology that addresses the challenges posed by China’s unique traffic environment, in order to further ensure that our technology and products offer the safety and convenience our customers expect.”

Particularly, it has been working with Baidu’s open-source Apollo self-driving platform, which it doesn’t plan to use in either Europe or North America.