An autonomous driving vehicle undergoes driving tests in the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Wuhan) Test and Demonstration Zone. [Photo/official WeChat account of WHDZ]
Auto manufacturer Dongfeng Motor Co is to develop China's largest fleet of autonomous vehicles in Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei province, with the project currently underway in Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ).
According to an agreement signed during an investment promotion event earlier in August, Dongfeng is to develop a fleet of autonomous vehicles consisting of more than 200 vehicles over the next three years.
The fleet will be the first of its kind in China and made in cooperation with enterprises including DeepRoute.ai, AutoX, and UISEE.
Dongfeng will explore commercial operation models for autonomous driving using shared travel platforms such as Dongfeng Go.
The company will also make efforts to expand the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Wuhan) Test and Demonstration Zone located in the WHDZ to the core urban areas of Wuhan during the three-year period from 2020 to 2022.
Within the current year, the road mileage of the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Wuhan) Test and Demonstration Zone will exceed 100 kilometers and become the country's most extensive 5G vehicle infrastructure autonomous driving demonstration zone. The zone uses full 5G coverage for collaborative vehicle-road autonomous driving tests.
The demonstration zone will build an autonomous driving application system with rich utilization scenarios, and carry out driving demonstrations and commercial operations covering autonomous buses, logistics distribution, shared travel, smart parking, automatic valet parking, clean sanitation, port freight and more.
