Chinese tech giant Baidu has unveiled its next-generation fully autonomous vehicle (AV), production ready and set to populate the country’s roads in 2023.

The Apollo RT6 is an all-electric  model with a detachable steering wheel. Designed for complex urban environments, Apollo RT6 will be put into operation next year on Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service with a per unit cost of RMB 250,000 (£30,950).

“This massive cost reduction will enable us to deploy tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles (AVs) across China,” Baidu’s chief executive Robin Li said at the Baidu World 2022 technology conference.

“We are moving towards a future where taking a robotaxi will be half the cost of taking a taxi today.”

The new vehicle will possess autonomous “Level 4 capabilities” that need no human intervention, with eight lidars and 12 cameras alongside the car.

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According to Zhenyu Li, senior corporate vice-president of Baidu and general manager of Intelligent Driving Group (IDG), the autonomous driving capability of Apollo RT6 is equivalent to a skilled driver with 20 years of experience.

The unveiling comes just as General Motors and Ford Motor have also asked US auto safety regulators to grant exemptions to deploy a limited number of self-driving vehicles without human controls like steering wheels and brake pedals.

Earlier this year, the UK set forth legislative changes designed to promote the safe use of self-driving cars in the hopes that a regulatory framework will be in place to support the widespread deployment of the technology by 2025.

Under the new regulations, motorists must be ready to resume control of a vehicle in a timely way while travelling in self-driving mode if they are prompted to.

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