Tencent gets self-driving car test licence from China's Shenzhen city - report

BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - China's southern city of Shenzhen gave the green light to tech giant Tencent Holdings to test its self-driving car on some public roads as the country seeks to bolster its position in the global race for autonomous vehicle technology.

Tencent obtained a licence plate for its self-driving car from the Shenzhen Transport Bureau, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday.

It follows Beijing move in April to issue national guidelines for testing self-driving cars, which was reported by the China Daily newspaper.

China is making a major push into autonomous vehicles to develop national champions to compete with global leaders such as Waymo, the self-driving arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc , and Tesla Inc.

Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities previously announced local guidelines for self-driving tests.

Internet giant Baidu Inc already has approval to test self-driving vehicles in Beijing, while SAIC Motor Corp Ltd and electric vehicle start-up NIO have licences to test autonomous cars in Shanghai.

Xinhua said several cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, have issued self-driving car licences after testing regulations came into effect.

Following two high-profile crashes in the United States involving Uber Technologies and Tesla, China's central government officials said Beijing would make safety a priority.

The Shenzhen Transport Bureau required Tencent's autonomous car to have both a driver and second person for safety reasons to be in the car during tests, Xinhua reported.

(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu Editing by Edmund Blair)