Pony.ai plans to test driverless cars in California
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) gave Chinese autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai a permit to test its driverless cars without human safety drivers behind the wheel on specific streets in the state’s three cities. According to DMV, Pony.ai can test driverless vehicles on public roads in Milpitas, Fremont, and Irvine.
Thus far, 55 other companies have received active permits to test driverless vehicles in California. However, Pony is one of the eight companies to get a testing permit without having a human driver in the car. Currently, only Nuro has a deployment permit from these companies that allows it to operate its autonomous vehicles commercially in California.
Pony.ai claims to be the first company to provide self-driving car rides to the general public in China, as well as launch autonomous ride-hailing.
China plans to use automation to solve population issues
Chinese companies aim to use the machines to do the lion’s share of work daily. Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com’s employee Qin Jiahao has been working in logistics operations for almost six years. However, during this period huge amount of his work has become automated. According to him, automation reduces their work intensity as machines do nearly half of their workers’ jobs.
In the past, he was responsible for collecting goods and putting them on shelves. Presently, the automation equipment puts goods at a designated place and then puts them on shelves.
Such an automated working process is a broader trend in China. In the world’s second-largest economy, the labor market faces some big challenges, including rising wages and an aging population.
According to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics, in the last decade, China’s working-age population reduced by more than 5 million people as births dropped. The country is feeling the effects of the one-child policy. The latter was enacted in the late 1970s to control China’s rapidly growing population.
Even though the work-able citizens’ number is shrinking, increasing automation could still lead to job losses, posing another danger.
