City seeks 'zero-casualty' transport

A “Shanghai Declaration” that calls for more international cooperation on developing intelligent and connected vehicles was issued at a conference in the city yesterday.

Shanghai is seeking to work with international organizations in building an intelligent connected transport system that has zero emissions and zero casualties, according to the declaration.

It was jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Shanghai’s government, the British Embassy in China, the UK’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, the International Transportation Innovation Center, Nomura Research Institute, and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research.

“The development of intelligent and connected vehicles plays a significant role in the transformation and industrial upgrading of the automobile industry. It is also important as Shanghai aims to become a scientific and innovation center with global influence,” Vice Mayor Zhou Bo told the 2017 World Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystem Conference. 

The city will enhance innovation in intelligent and connected vehicle technology, and set up public platforms for research and development, testing, evaluation and demonstration of intelligent and connected vehicles.

The declaration also involves building a more standardized legal and regulatory system, and the promotion of pilot demonstrations of intelligent and connected vehicles.

Shanghai will conduct research on the collection of Big Data and promote its application in developing a low-carbon, intelligent and shared public transport system. 

The city aims to gather experts from world-famous automobile companies, institutes and organizations, build an open and diversified platform for international exchanges and cross-sector cooperation, and share technological innovation and industrial development results.

“In the coming future, we will accelerate the demonstration and application of intelligent and connected vehicles in Shanghai. We will strive to build an innovation center of intelligent and connected vehicle with global influence by 2020,” said Rong Wenwei, general manager of Shanghai International Automobile City.

Chen Zhixin, president of the SAIC Motor Group Co, said the group has the capability of developing intelligent driving systems and its intelligent vehicle testing distance had reached 50,000 kilometers.

Matt Tsien, president of General Motors China, said: “The Shanghai Declaration issued today gives all of us, including businesses, the academic community and government, the opportunity to work together to help Shanghai become an innovation hub and achieve its goal of building a smarter, more livable city for its people.

“Shanghai is in a great position to become a leader to embed connectivity technology into a comprehensive traffic management system, which will help increase transportation capacity within dense urban settings. With autonomous vehicles, we can change how we approach vehicle safety, from protecting passengers after crashes happen to potentially avoiding crashes altogether.”

As an emerging industry born out of the new round of scientific and technological revolution, the development of intelligent and connected vehicles can improve traffic safety, meet energy-saving and emission-reduction targets, eliminate traffic congestion, and increase social benefits, he said.

Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology, told the conference: “To develop intelligent and connected vehicles are common views globally and countries are formulating their national strategies and promoting research and development of key technologies.”

China, the world’s largest auto market, has a good foundation and advantages in terms of the development of intelligent and connected vehicles, Xin added, including achievements in new-energy vehicles and the development of domestic brands, information technology and policies.

The theme of the Shanghai conference was “Connected World, Intelligent Future.”