Didi Approved to Test Autonomous Cars in California

Didi joins a list of established and young technology and automotive companies that are allowed to test drive autonomous vehicles on California roads with a safety driver present. Didi opened its main U.S. research facility in Mountain View, Calif., last year to focus on developing artificial intelligence, including for autonomous driving. The approval from the California state regulator is the company's first license for testing on public roads in the U.S. "We have been testing our vehicles in closed internal environment for a while," Didi Senior Communications Director Liang Sun said in an email. The company is still finalizing its plans to begin U.S. road trials but said it would be done in a "prudent and safety-first" manner. Uber Technologies Inc. let its own permit lapse in California at the end of March after one of its self-driving vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian crossing a street in Arizona.