German auto giant Volkswagen will begin road testing self-driving cars in VW's first such pilot in the globe's largest car market to run eventual travel services in Hefei in East China from next month, with the passenger-bearing tests to open to the public at large next year, Shanghai Securities News reported. The government of Hefei, a relatively less developed city in China's Yangtze River Deltawhich is the capital of Anhui province, issued its first autonomous vehicle test license to Beijing-based Volkswagen Group China yesterday. China is a fertile ground for driverless vehicle pilots. Toyota-invested Pony.ai, Baidu, Nissan-backed WeRide and Didi Chuxing are all trialing self-driving cars in various cities there as carmakers and tech firms plow billions into the new technology, Reuters reported yesterday. The fleet serving the testing project comprises VW brand Audi's e-tron electric sport utility vehicles. The 16 square-kilometer trial area, which includes a 80-k...