On March 13, two autonomous driving companies, WeRide and Pony.ai, announced that their paid autonomous shuttle services for Beijingnan (Beijing South) Railway Station have gained approval for operations, marking the first commercial deployment of the Robotaxis (self-driving taxis) within Beijing's Third Ring Road.

Prior to this, the autonomous shuttle services at Beijingnan Railway Station had undergone extensive testing. These services now cover a complex route network between the taxi pick-up locations in Beijing E-Town and the railway station, including two designated routes (16 kilometers and 29.3 kilometers) in Beijing Autonomous Driving Pilot Zone. The new services cover parts of the ring roads, expressways, and the roads within the Third Ring Road, and enable autonomous driving specifically on the South Fifth Ring Road, South Fourth Ring Road, South Third Ring Road (including auxiliary lanes), Beijing-Kaifeng Expressway, Kaiyang Road and Majiapu West Road.

Beijing High-Level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone is now fully advancing its 4th-phase construction, accelerating the launch of additional shuttle services to and from the urban area, with more airports and railway stations to be included (including the "Five Stations and Two Airports", namely Beijingnan Railway Station, Beijing Chaoyang Railway Station, Beijing Fengtai Railway Station, Qinghe Railway Station, Beijing Sub-Center Railway Station, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Beijing Daxing International Airport). So far, the routes reaching the Daxing Airport and those connecting Beijingnan Railway Station have been in operation.

So, how to book an autonomous vehicle for a trip to or from Beijingnan Railway Station? Currently, multiple companies have developed their own dedicated Apps. For example, the WeRide App allows users for one click booking of Beijingnan Station transfers within three days (excluding the same day doing the booking), with designated pick-up and drop-off locations located at the 1st level within the station's multi-story parking garage.

Passengers can reserve autonomous driving shuttle services one day in advance via the "Railway Station" option of Pony.ai's App. The current operating hours for the autonomous shuttle services to and from railway stations are from 10:00 to 16:00, which will be prolonged in the future according to relevant regulations.

Would you like to choose an autonomous vehicle to take you to a railway station when you begin a trip?

(Source: Beijing Daily)