(The first batch of driverless during road tests)

The accumulated mileage of the first batch of self-driving cars has reached 3,000 kilometers in Shanghai since the city opened public roads to smart car trials at the beginning of the year, and no accidents or offences have been reported. In the meantime, the mechanism design for road tests is also being improved. As an important measure to reinforce “Shanghai manufacturing”, Shanghai is further working on its policies designed to pave the way for the development of an intelligent connected car industry led by locally producing manufacturers.

The most important thing for the autonomous car industry is still safety. According to the Commission of Economy and Information Technology (SCEIT), the first batch of driverless cars provided by the two local auto makers SAIC Motors and NIO - who have obtained the license to conduct open road tests for intelligent connected cars - have generated no accidents or traffic offences during the first month of road tests, with an accumulated test time of 130 hours and distance topping 3,000 kilometers.

A safe track record of driving is related to the technologies, testing experience and guiding policies. The reporter was told that the average speed of driving of the driverless cars from SAIC Motors and NIO is around 24 kilometers per hour, which is a very cautious way of driving. Apart from open-road trials, the closed test area that Shanghai has earlier put into operation in Jiading can offer over 200 smart car driving test scenarios for various auto makers, and has become an international platform with complete testing capabilities and advanced technology.