Transport authorities in the Chinese capital of Beijing issued temporary license plates for tech giant Baidu's self-driving cars on Thursday, allowing the company's autonomous vehicles to start public road testing.

In an exhibition in 2017, the company released its plan to put self-driving cars on the road by the end of 2018. It has started tests in closed test fields in Haidian District, which covers 33 roads. Technical experts of Baidu said safety and capability to follow orders are the priorities in early tests, adding that there are multiple sets of sensors installed in the vehicles to avoid collisions with pedestrians or other vehicles in extreme cases.