The Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ) has been advancing its development in autonomous driving -- helping Wuhan city in Central China’s Hubei province to be a frontrunner in the domestic field of autonomous driving -- according WHDZ officials.
They said that as a domestic automobile research and development and manufacturing center, Wuhan has already successfully created infrastructure to test run autonomous driving.
It has opened specific public roads to autonomous driving companies, created a wealth of autonomous driving application scenarios and promoted the development of technology and business models.
In September 2019, the world's first commercial license for self-driving vehicles was issued in National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Wuhan) Test and Demonstration Zone, which is the only demonstration zone for multi-scenario smart car applications in China.
Experts said autonomous driving involves multiple industry categories, including automobiles, communications, map navigation, computers, artificial intelligence, etc., and requires cross-border cooperation.
Wuhan has obvious advantages in these areas because it is already a top-ranked auto capital in China, with an output of more than 1 million vehicles. It has original equipment manufacturers such as Dongfeng Motor Co and SAIC GM and thousands of parts manufacturers, forming a huge production capacity and industrial foundation.
To date, Wuhan has issued 25 intelligent network-connected car road test licenses -- including seven demonstration application licenses -- and has taken the lead in the commercialization of intelligent network-connected car road test vehicles worldwide.
