A self-driving car starts public road testing in Beijing. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang)

Beijing released its first temporary license plates for Baidu's self-driving vehicles for public road testing on Thursday.

The capital city has opened 33 roads with a total length of 105 kilometers for autonomous car testing outside the Fifth Ring Road and away from densely-populated areas on the outskirts.

According to regulations for managing road testing for self-driving vehicles, autonomous vehicles are eligible for public road testing only after they have completed 5,000 kilometers of daily driving in designated closed test fields and passed assessments.

Self-driving cars ready for public road testing in Beijing. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang)

The test vehicles must be equipped with monitoring devices that can monitor driving behavior, collect vehicle location information and monitor whether a vehicle is in self-driving mode.

Test drivers must have received no less than 50 hours of self-driving training.

Beijing has built its first closed test fields in Haidian District, covering about 13 hectares.

Beijing released its first temporary license plates for Baidu's self-driving vehicles for public road testing. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang)

The licenses for road testing are valid for 30 days and license holders can apply for renewal after self-driving cars pass assessments.