Search giant Baidu Inc (??) and Toyota Motor Corp-backed Pony.ai Inc (????) were granted the first batch of licenses from Beijing regulators to start open-road autonomous commercial driving operations in a part of the city equivalent to the size of Manhattan. The pilot licenses will allow a fleet of about 100 cars from the two companies to travel around the 60km2 so-called Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area, about a 30-minute drive from Tiananmen Square, state media reports said. Baidu received 67 of the permits and will allow its robotaxis to range between more than 600 pickup and dropoff points…