Eastern China’s Hangzhou to test self-driving vehicles in downtown, urban areas
- Eight main districts in Hangzhou including downtown Gongshu and Shangcheng, as well as Tonglu county, will be open for self-driving vehicle tests from May 1
- Hangzhou’s initiative shows much-needed local government support for China’s autonomous-driving system developers
Eight main districts in the city including downtown Gongshu and Shangcheng, as well as Tonglu county – covering an area of 3,474 square kilometres – will be made available to pilot tests of self-driving vehicles from Wednesday, according to a report by local outlet Qianjiang Evening News.
This new initiative by Hangzhou forms part of a new municipal policy to bolster the application of “intelligent connected vehicles” within the city, helping China’s move towards a driverless future.
Under that policy, which was published by the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information on April 2 and takes effect from Wednesday, the local government will set up a system to coordinate the self-driving vehicle tests based on certain technical categories.
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The policy document did not specify which level of autonomous driving technology would be permitted for the pilot tests. Hangzhou’s municipal government previously issued permits for up to Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving.