BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — The following is a summary of published science and technology news in China.

DRIVERLESS TAXIS

Chinese tech giant Baidu has obtained permission to operate fully driverless taxis commercially on public roads in the cities of Wuhan and Chongqing.

Baidu will offer the commercial robotaxi service — with no driver present — in some areas of the two cities via the company’s autonomous ride-hailing platform Apollo Go.

OIL, GAS RESERVE

China’s largest oil refiner Sinopec has acquired crude oil and natural gas from a newly-drilled oil reserve about 8,000 meters deep in the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The high-yield reserve in Sinopec’s Shunbei oil and gas field is estimated to be capable of producing 244 tonnes of crude oil and 970,000 cubic meters of natural gas each day.

5G BASE STATIONS

Chinese telecom operators have accumulatively invested 401.6 billion yuan (about 59.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 5G.

China has some 1.85 million 5G base stations and more than 450 million 5G end users, both accounting for over 60 percent of the global total. The accelerating application of 5G technology has led to the emergence of new industries and new modes of business.