(Yicai Global) Jan. 28 -- China's first fleet of completely self-driving robotaxis, without accompanying safety drivers or remote operators, was made available to Shenzhen residents by Chinese autonomous driving startup AutoX today.

The service is still billed a limited pilot and members of the public must register on AutoX's website in order to book a ride. The Shenzhen-based company, which is backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, has been testing its robotaxis on public roads in the economic powerhouse since last month.

AutoX’s robotaxis are capable of Level Five autonomous driving, or the highest level of self-driving that requires no human intervention at all. The only other company in the world offering fully unmanned rides to the public is US tech giant Google’s self-driving unit Waymo which recently launched a robotaxi service in Phoenix, Arizona.

Most self-driving vehicles being developed in China by big names such as Baidu, Didi Chuxing and Xiaoma Zhixing are Level Four autonomous driving, which still requires some human input in certain scenarios.

Regulation of driverless cars, however, is lacking. “All autonomous vehicles hold paper license plates,” said AutoX founder and Chairman Xiao Jianxiong. “What we need is for legislation to issue iron license plates for driverless cars.”

Self-driving is the future, Xiao told Yicai Global. But to promote Robotaxis effectively enterprises need to collaborate with the government to determine the terms of unmanned vehicle market access, policies and supervision.

Xiao expressed his appreciation to the Shenzhen government for being open to experimenting with fully autonomous self-driving cars on its roads.

Editor: Kim Taylor