China-developed smart trucks complete highway tests

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China's first highway test for the drive-smart functions of commercial heavy-duty trucks has been completed by FAW Jiefang Automotive.

The company is a truck subsidiary of FAW Group, China's leading automaker, and it said on Tuesday that it has tested three Jiefang container trucks with auto-driving functions on a section of the Changchun-Shenzhen Highway.

Autonomous cruise control, or adaptive cruise control (ACC) is an optional cruise control system for road vehicles that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed to maintain a safe distance from vehicles ahead. /Jiefang Automotive gif.

The trucks, which can carry 40 tonnes, have automatic cruising, alarm systems and braking. The Lane Keeping Assist System mode allows for hands-free driving.

Hu Hanjie, the general manager of the company, said smart-driving vehicles are going to be the future. The company aims to develop a new model with high-precision positioning abilities by 2018 and make another model based on 5G communications networks available for driving by 2020.

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) is a new safety technology increasingly being fitted to vehicles which monitors the traffic conditions ahead and automatically brakes the car if the driver fails to respond to an emergency situation. /Jiefang Automotive gif.

By 2025, the company is expected to develop its first self-driving truck.

The company made China's first domestically produced truck in 1956. Since then, it has produced 6 million vehicles and in the first nine months of this year, it sold 198,000 vehicles, ranking first in China.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency