Smart Roads for Intelligent Connected Vehicles to Complete

　　The photo, taken on August 19, shows self-driving buses run in the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Changsha) Testing Zone. 5G network has covered the entire zone. In recent years, Hunan has been focusing on intelligent connected vehicle development and its integration with 5G network. This emerging industry has developed rapidly, and accomplished a batch of national leading achievements in technical innovation. (Photo/Li Jian, Gu Pengbo, Hunan Daily)

　　By the end of this September, China’s first “Automated Driving Town” will be put into operation in the Hunan Xiangjiang New Area. Now, the “two 100-km” project – 100-km smart expressways and 100-km public roads, has entered the round-off stage.

　　The 100-km smart expressways include the Changsha-Yiyang Expressway expansion section (a new expressway connecting Changsha and Yiyang parallel with the existing Changsha-Yiyang Expressway), and the northwest section of the Changsha Belt Expressway, 93 km in total. These sections will support Level-3 (limited automation) and above, and meet the requirements of large-scale research, development and testing of intelligent connected vehicles, expressway operation and supervision, and information service for drivers.

　　The 100-km public roads covers the Artificial Intelligence Technology Town in the Xiangjiang Intelligent Valley, Meixi Lake, Yanghu Lake, Dawang Mountain, and the Changsha Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, totaling 135 km.

　　All these designated roads and sections will support all-round detection and coordination, and are visible, measurable, controllable, and serviceable.

　　“We have smart vehicles and smart roads here”, said the project manager. In this “automated driving town”, all the roads and vehicles are equipped with sensors and monitoring facilities.  Based on the 5G-V2X (vehicle-to-every) technology, rapid environment detection and analysis will be made, and related data will be provided to guarantee safe driving.