Spring Festival Travel Rush: China's BeiDou Satellite Navigation System supports mass transportation

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02:08

Meanwhile, China is expanding the application of its home-grown BeiDou satellite navigation system during the travel rush. CGTN's Zhao Yunfei shows us how BeiDou brings people convenience and peace of mind at a major holiday.

The Spring Festival travel rush makes mid-February a busy time across China. This year an estimated 2.9 billion trips will be made as people head home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. That's more than twice the total population of the country.

People travel by road, rail, air and sea in all types of transportation vehicles. To ensure safety, most use satellite navigation systems.

China's BeiDou satellite navigation system, or BDS, offers global coverage to precise positioning services.

The system has provided reliable and free, all-weather and all-time positioning, navigation and timing services.

With centimeter-level positioning, BDS can tell which lane a car is driving in, laying a foundation for driverless technology. In China, 6.17 million road vehicles and 35,600 postal and express delivery vehicles have already use BDS.

Scientists are conducting experiments for the possibility of self-driving high-speed trains. The train travels 350 kilometers per hour and that requires even higher precision, in millimeter-level.

BDS has become a strategic emerging industry as its applications have brought convenience to a digitalized and mobile China. Zhao Yunfei, CGTN, Beijing.