Shanghai opens more public roads for testing of intelligent and connected vehicles to speed up industry development

Shanghai has opened more public roads for testing of intelligent and connected vehicles to further accelerate industry development and commercialization of ICVs, the city's government said today.

Shanghai has extended the length of roads for testing from 5.6 kilometers to 37.2 kilometers, and there are now a total of 12 public roads that used for testing of ICVs, the government said today at the 2018 World Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystem Conference in Shanghai.

Auto companies can test ICVs on a 11.1- kilometer stretch of public road in Anting Town in Jiading District, while road testing of commercial vehicles will be done on 26.1 kilometers of public roads in Lingang area in the Pudong New Area.

Rong Wenwei, general manager of Shanghai International Automobile City, said that more public roads opened will offer a larger scope for testing of ICVs and the complexity of road tests will be further improved. Rong said that the newly opened roads in Lingang area are suitable for relatively higher speed testing because of less traffic flow and better road conditions.

Shanghai is the first city in China to move road tests of ICVs from enclosed areas to public roads. Previously, testing of ICVs was allowed only in special closed areas such as the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle Shanghai Pilot Zone.

Since the Shanghai government issued the first batch of road test licenses to three automakers — SAIC Motor Co, BMW and NIO — from March 1, testing work has been going well and there has been no road accident. The three automakers have accumulated about 12,000 kilometers of road tests.

During an interview with Shanghai Daily, Rong said that there are two auto companies which are expected to obtain the licenses for testing of ICVs on public roads in Shanghai soon. By the end of this year, about 10 auto companies will receive the road testing licenses.

Several ICV key projects were also settled in Shanghai during the conference, including Beijing-based start-up TuSimple, which focuses on self-driving trucks, and an artificial intelligence startup Roadstar.ai, that specializes in autonomous driving technologies.

Experts from automotive, electronics, information, telecommunication, Internet and transport industries conducted in-depth discussions on the future development of ICVs during the conference. 

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