Chinese tech giant Baidu carried out a test run of its driverless cars in Wuzhen. The company is currently trialing a fleet of 18 such cars. The town is currently hosting the World Internet Conference, a three-day long event. Baidu has made these cars available for use to delegates.

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The test ride was carried out on a pretest route. The first set of passengers was taken on a 3-kilometer ride on a Baidu car. The trip lasted for 10 minutes. During the journey, the driverless car paid attention to traffic lights, sensed pedestrians, and achieved the speed of 50 kilometers per hour.

Apart from the guest passengers, monitoring staff was also present in the car. Baidu said that the staff's presence was mainly for ensuring safety. However, none of the staff had to take control of the car. One passenger said, "The car is quite smooth when starting and accelerating."

With this trial, Baidu becomes the second company in the world to carry out the public testing of driverless cars. Earlier this year, Uber had carried out such trials for its autonomous cars in Pittsburgh, USA. Baidu reported that nearly 200 people have taken part in the trial until now.

Baidu is optimistic about its driverless car plans. In December last year, the company had completed a test ride of its cars in Beijing. The trial involved driving the car on a highway for 40 minutes, covering 30 kilometers.

Wang Jing, the senior vice president of automotive unit with Baidu, said that the latest trials are more advanced. He also said that these trials more closely mimic the real life urban road conditions. 

TagsBaidu, Driverless Cars, World Internet Conference