City a national leader for self-driving vehicle testing

By the end of 2020, Shanghai had opened 243 roadways covering nearly 560 kilometers for self-driving vehicle testing, according to a recently released report.

More than 56 percent of the roadways — totaling 315 kilometers — are located in Jiading, site of the country’s first self-driving testing base. Other sites are spread across Lingang, Fengxian and Jinqiao, according to the report on the city’s Intelligent Connected Vehicle testing roads unveiled at a seminar at Shanghai Science Hall.

Zhou Li from the Jinqiao Management Bureau said Jinqiao has natural industrial advantages for testing self-driving vehicles.

Jinqiao is home to the city’s first 5G industrial park that was built to promote the integration of 5G communications technology with automobiles and intelligent manufacturing. Industry giants such as Huawei and SAIC have signed investment deals with the park, including Huawei’s first 5G innovation center.

“5G is a channel with technical advantages such as high bandwidth and low latency that are well suited for testing self-driving vehicles,” Zhou said.

According to the report, by the end of 2020, 148 vehicles had been tested on roadways by 21 permit holders, making the city a national leader in the number of self-driving vehicles and companies. Of the 148 vehicles, 129 are new-energy cars.

These vehicles have been driven for 11,700 hours covering 397,000 kilometers, producing 168 million bits of data.

The city has provided more than 5,000 test scenarios such as urban roads, expressways, ports, universities and commercial zones for self-driving vehicles.

“Shanghai has launched a series of pioneering and innovative projects to explore new technologies, test scenarios and demonstration zones for self-driving cars,” said Tu Huizhao, professor at Tongji University's College of Transportation Engineering.

However, there are still many challenges ahead. To address these challenges, Tu has proposed a national strategy for manufacturing self-driving vehicles, and polices to ensure safe self-driving testing.