(Bloomberg) -- Baidu Inc.’s ride-hailing service will deploy cars without humans behind the wheel on Chinese roads for the first time, a symbolic victory in a years-long quest to carve out businesses beyond internet advertising.

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Baidu, the search giant now investing heavily to commercialize artificial intelligence technology and autonomous driving, is one of two companies to secure the country’s first permits to operate a fleet of self-driving robotaxis without someone in the driver’s seat. The approval covers just part of Beijing for now, but marks a relaxation of Chinese rules.

Baidu and AI driving startup Pony.ai Inc. can now dispatch autonomous cars with safety personnel only in the passenger seat, whereas previous regulations mandated a human ready to grab the wheel in an emergency. It’s a big step toward cars independent of human intervention, which Baidu Vice President Wei Dong predicted could emerge as soon as next year.

“This is a qualitative change. It used to be the case where someone sitting behind the wheel could take over instantly,” Wei, who oversees safety for Baidu’s self-driving car division, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Now you are leaving it all to the machines.”

Toyota Motor Corp.-backed Pony.ai obtained the same permit, regulators said during a press event in Beijing. The two firms for now haven’t won approval to charge for those pickups -- meaning passengers ride for free.

Baidu is transitioning to AI and self-driving after its core advertising revenue shrank in the mobile era. Its smart driving business provides software to carmakers like Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. and runs a ride-hailing platform powered by a fleet of robotaxis in nine cities including Guangzhou and Beijing. Its electric vehicle spinoff raised $400 million from external investors, and plans to start mass production in 2023.

The new permit, for Baidu’s Apollo Go operations, was granted by regulators in the so-called Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area, the company said in a statement, an area on the outskirts of the capital roughly the size of Manhattan. In November, Baidu and Pony.ai won licenses to run commercial self-driving operations in the same region.

Back in 2020, Google-owned Waymo opened its fully driverless ride-hailing service to the public in Phoenix, but Wei said the traffic conditions in Chinese megacities like Beijing are more challenging.