Hong Kong gears up for city’s first test run of fully driverless vehicles

Vehicles are being tested on Airport Island and will not require a person at the wheel as a backup for the first time An Apollo Go vehicle takes to the road on Airport Island. Photo: Elson Li Hong Kong has approved a trial scheme for fully driverless autonomous vehicles, with the technology to be tested on Airport Island without a person at the wheel as a backup for the first time. The Transport Department announced on Thursday that it had expanded the scope of a pilot licence for autonomous vehicle trial schemes in North Lantau, after concluding that earlier remote-operation tests had met safety requirements. “We are pleased to confirm that the autonomous vehicle tests have been ideal, safe and operating smoothly,” Commissioner for Transport Winnie Tse Wing-yee said. Since February, autonomous vehicle trials on Airport Island were required to have a person inside the car. A second operator would also monitor the journey remotely from a control centre. The latest arrangement allows for humans to be removed from the car entirely, while the car will still be monitored remotely. Chinese technology giant Baidu received Hong Kong’s first pilot licence for autonomous vehicles in November 2024. Since then, the company has gradually expanded its testing programme from Airport Island to North Lantau, Kowloon East and Southern district, while increasing the number of vehicles, raising speed limits and conducting designated passenger test runs. Tse said operators would be required to continue submitting monthly reports on the trial runs, adding that the department would carry out on-site inspections and review operations at the remote control centre. She also said that safety would “always be [the government’s] top consideration” and noted operators were required to formulate detailed safety management and contingency plans covering vehicle, road and cybersecurity risks. Each test vehicle must also carry valid third-party insurance and be equipped with an electronic data recorder, while new labels stating that tests were in progress will need to be displayed to help other road users identify the vehicles. Asked whether Hong Kong would need to amend its laws before Level 4 autonomous vehicles could operate on public roads without on-board attendants, Tse said the city’s existing legal framework was already capable of regulating the latest phase of testing. “Our legislative framework has already provided a very flexible and robust framework to regulate and facilitate the development of autonomous vehicles in Hong Kong,” she said. Apollo Go vehicles had travelled more than 240,000km in Hong Kong by the end of May. Photo: Elson Li Level 4 autonomous vehicles can self-drive without human intervention within designated operating areas and conditions. Unhandled type: inline-plus-widget {"type":"inline-plus-widget"} The classification is part of the globally recognised six-level automation standard developed by United States-based engineering standards body SAE International, which ranges from Level 0, with no driving automation, to Level 5, where vehicles are capable of fully autonomous operation under all conditions. Tse added that authorities were processing applications for commercial autonomous vehicle operations and larger vehicle types, while any expansion of testing into new districts would depend on operators’ business plans. Tse declined to say when driverless testing would progress to the next stage, only saying there was no fixed timetable. She said the department would continue assessing operators’ monthly reports and conducting inspections, adding that meeting prescribed testing mileage alone would not automatically qualify a project to advance. Baidu, whose Apollo Go platform is conducting the Airport Island trial scheme, welcomed the approval and described it as “an important milestone” for the development of autonomous driving in Hong Kong. Yang Nan, vice-president of Baidu and general manager of its overseas intelligent driving business, said the company would launch what it described as the world’s first driverless trial scheme in a right-hand-drive market later this month. He said the company had spent more than a year testing in Hong Kong after receiving the licence in 2024. By the end of May, Apollo Go vehicles had travelled more than 240,000km (149,000 miles) in Hong Kong, Yang said. “We will continue to develop our autonomous driving business in Hong Kong in a safe and effective manner, accelerate unmanned and large-scale operations, and strive to achieve commercial operations as soon as possible,” he said. The government has repeatedly said it wants autonomous driving technology to progress towards “driverless, scaled-up and commercialised” operations, although it has not specified what those services will ultimately look like or set a timetable for their roll-out. Elsewhere, driverless ride-hailing services have already begun operating commercially. Waymo operates autonomous taxi services in several cities in the United States, while Zoox, owned by Amazon, is testing purpose-built robotaxis in San Francisco and Las Vegas. In mainland China, Apollo Go has deployed commercial robotaxi fleets in cities such as Shenzhen.