[Photo via VCG]

Established less than three years ago, Beijing High-level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Area (hereinafter referred to as the "Area") situated in the southeast of Beijing has transformed Beijing into an innovation hub with the latest, most trendy and most advanced autonomous driving scenarios coming into reality one by one.

According to the Report on Construction and Development of Beijing High-level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Area in 2022 recently released by the head office of the Area, the Area has ranked first in China in terms of the competitiveness of urban intelligent connected vehicles for two consecutive years, thanks to a series of actions taken for the innovation in policies and technologies. As of March 2023, the Area housed 19 testing enterprises, with a total of 578 connected vehicles autonomously driving a remarkable total distance of 14.49 million kilometers. Notably, prominent companies like Baidu, Pony.ai and SenseTime have arrived in the Area, while leading car manufacturers such as BAIC and Audi have taken the lead in conducting regular testing. Additionally, Daimler, BMW, FAW, Ford, Li Auto and other companies have been actively moving forward with their testing processes within the Area.

The successful introduction of several new scenarios can be attributed to Beijing's relevant policies. In September 2020, Beijing took the initiative to establish the world's first high-level cloud-connected autonomous driving demonstration area. Building upon this achievement, Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Area was established a few months later to facilitate the application and promotion of new technologies, products and modes. In terms of the system of policies, 10 influential industry management policies have been announced so far.

In recent years, the Area has been focusing on independent innovation in key areas. To achieve cost reduction, it resorted to a mechanism through which it attracted competent market players by publicizing the projects featuring key and core technologies, for the research and development of the domestically produced Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) equipment. Additionally, its collaborative efforts with enterprises have facilitated the research and development of distributed computing platforms, as well as the establishment of professional and convenient industrial innovation parks and incubators. A city marked by autonomous driving is taking shape in an accelerated manner, as the integration of unmanned and commercialized autonomous vehicles into daily life has successfully served over 1.34 million people. In addition, unmanned vehicles have efficiently delivered more than 1.3 million orders, while unmanned retail vehicles have provided their services over 2.5 million times. Furthermore, the pilot application associated with the small-scale scenarios related to buses, express delivery vehicles, and more in the Area has been realized. In terms of smart transportation, over 300 signal-controlled intersections have undergone upgrades and renovations, while the road information has served an average of over 20,000 people per day.

At present, the Area is actively progressing with the expansion project for its 3.0 stage. In this stage, each 100-square-kilometer-large area will be used for exploring various building modes across different fields and under diverse conditions, aiming to replicate and promote the successful experiences and achievements of the construction and management of the Area throughout the entire city.

(Source: Beijing Daily)