Double-deck AI tour bus debuts in Shanghai

A fleet of sightseeing buses equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) technology have started trial operation Wednesday in Shanghai.

Co-developed by Chinese search engine giant Baidu and a Shanghai-based tourism company, the double-deck tour bus aims to make travel more convenient for tourists through AI technology.

Tourists are allowed to get on the bus through facial recognition -- no tickets required. Meanwhile, the wireless translators on the bus are able to provide diverse services for tourists, including translation, answering questions and audio guides.

The translator supports multiple languages including English, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Russian, Spanish, German and Arabic.

So far, there are two tour routes, covering the most famous and classic travel destinations in Shanghai.

The buses will start official operation from January 2019. A fleet of 10 tour buses will be initially put into use and another 10 buses will join the fleet later next year.

Baidu and Shanghai inked a strategic cooperative framework in November to promote the construction of Shanghai as a smart city.