LETTER FROM WUHAN

The white car slows down, then stops at the customer. To unlock the door, you have to enter a four-digit code on the right rear window, which is displayed on your smartphone when you order the car. On board, a voice reminds you that seatbelts are mandatory. The steering wheel turns without a driver, and the vehicle carefully re-enters traffic, soon crossing one of the immense eight-lane bridges spanning the Yangtze River.

Driverless cabs were already being tested in several US cities, including Phoenix and San Francisco, but China is determined not to be left behind in the race for autonomous driving, which requires racking up real-world kilometers to perfect the technology. Trial programs have been launched in districts of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen, but none is more ambitious than that of Wuhan, where more than 400 cars from Apollo Go, the autonomous private-hire cars owned by search engine Baidu, are criss-crossing the city except for the densest historic central district. Spanning 3,000 square kilometers, this is the world's largest operating zone for driverless cars.

Their number represents only 1% of the Hubei capital's fleet of cabs and private-hire cars, reassures Baidu, but the tech giant's funding makes the fare attractive, and the city's cab drivers are not hiding their concerns. If the experiment proves conclusive, it will be extended. No human factor, no issues of fatigue – the competition promises to be tough. The authorities will have to find a balance between the technological race and drivers' fears for their future. "They're taking our livelihood. They're going to get our skin. I don't see what good taking human jobs is going to do," grumbled Tan Hanzhen, a 40-year-old cab driver, from behind the wheel.

100 million kilometers of testing

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