China's first 'land, sea and air' self-driving testing zone completed
Updated 15:06, 06-Aug-2019
CGTN
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00:49

China's first "land, sea and air" self-driving comprehensive testing area for intelligent connected vehicles (IVC), covering a closed testing area of 3.2 square kilometers in the Lingang area of Shanghai, is now operational.

The newly built self-driving system demonstration area is equipped with the country's most comprehensive test scenarios and functions, which will provide vital data for future development of self-driving techniques and road conditions.

Since the recent opening of the testing center, the first of its kind in China, various vehicles have been put to the test.

One of the scenarios for self-driving trucks is the operation of autonomous docking.

Alley docking requires a specific process including proper vehicle speed control and braking to correctly back the vehicle into position for loading or unloading of containers in a port area to eliminate rough docking and related damage.

"Through this kind of environmental simulation, we want to better help artificial intelligence to energize the real economy," said Xue Jiancong, deputy general manager of TuSimple.

At the testing demonstration area, roads with a total length of 4.7 kilometers of different conditions are available. Dynamic scenarios include pedestrians crossing, obstacles on the road as well as other simulated scenarios such as light rain, moderate rain and rainstorms were set to test the sensitivity of self-driving sensing devices under various weather conditions.

With a total length of 500 meters, the tunnel at the demonstration area is the longest among the testing roads in China and it was built to the national standard.

As vehicles enter the tunnel, they lose GPS signal and are tested on whether they can rely on their own sensory systems and inertial navigation.

The demonstration area will be opened to self-driving enterprises across China and provide services including self-driving testing methods research and data integration management.

"The scenes on the road are very abundant. Currently, we have accumulated more than 130 small scenes. We will make the scenes more complete according to, for example, the needs of the enterprises," said Zhou Anwu, test engineer of Shanghai Lingang Intelligent Connected Technology Research Center Company Limited.

Over one year since Lingang launched the construction of the self-driving system comprehensive demonstration area, the low-altitude navigable flight airspace, the one-square-kilometer Dishui Lake unmanned ship testing field and self-driving testing zone were launched in succession. The innovative platforms have already attracted a series of artificial intelligence enterprises of self-driving vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned vessels to gather around the Dishui Lake.