Baidu completes successful test of its autonomous car in Beijing

Google's Chinese counterpart is following in its autonomous footsteps.

Baidu, China's largest search engine, announced that a modified BMW 3 Series successfully completed an autonomous test route in Bejing, in a press release Wednesday. The company claims this is the first fully autonomous car in China to successfully pass a series of tests in a variety of driving environments.

The 30-kilometer (18.6 miles) test route started and ended at Baidu's Bejing headquarters, and required a variety of maneuvers by the car, including merging onto the highway, decelerating for slower traffic, changing lanes and U-Turns. Baidu says the maximum speed attained was 100 km/h (62 mph). Read more...