Roads for testing self-driving vehicles in Beijing stretch over 1,000 km

BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- A total of 278 roads stretching more than 1,027 km in Beijing have been opened for self-driving vehicle tests as of September end, according to Beijing Innovation Center for Mobility Intelligent (BICMI).

Among these roads, 19 are able to conduct night tests, totaling more than 190 km.

The roads are distributed in the districts of Shunyi, Tongzhou, Haidian and Fangshan, and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

So far, Beijing has issued temporary car plates for road test to 165 self-driving vehicles from 16 companies including domestic internet giant Baidu and Chinese autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai. Three companies among them have received permits to test their driverless cars with passengers aboard.