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By Keith Bradsher
Reporting from Wuhan, China
The world’s largest driverless car experiment is underway on the busy streets of Wuhan, a city in central China with 11 million people, 4. 5 million cars, eight-lane highways and towering bridges over the murky waters of the Yangtze River.
A fleet of 500 computer-driven taxis, with no backup security driver, buzzes. The company that operates them, the tech giant Baidu, announced last month that it would install 1,000 more robot taxis in Wuhan.
Across China, 16 or more cities have allowed corporations to control driverless cars on public roads, and at least 19 Chinese automakers and their suppliers are vying to identify global leadership in this field. No other country is acting so aggressively.
The government provides significant aid to businesses. In addition to cities designating roadside control spaces for robo-taxis, censors restrict online discussions of protection incidents and injuries to allay public fears about the nascent technology.
Surveys conducted by J. D. Power, an automotive consulting firm, found that Chinese drivers are more willing than Americans to use computers to check their cars.
“I think you don’t have to worry too much about protection — it will have to pass the protection approval,” said Zhang Ming, owner of a small grocery store near Wuhan’s Qingchuan pavilion, where many Baidu robot taxis stop.
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