Wuxi self-driving minibuses operate normally on open roads, and Wuxi people are one step closer to the life depicted in science fiction films

The people of Wuxi are one step closer to the future life depicted in science fiction movies.

On January 1, the first open road self-driving minibus connection line in China was opened in Wuxi Xidong New Town Business District, with normal operation, the main operating period is between 6:00 and 23:00, and the daily schedule of "departures" of each line refers to the mobile setting of the subway arrival time on the same day. Each platform is set up with a ride two-dimensional code for passengers to scan the code to make a reservation, and when the car arrives at the station, scan and verify to take the ride; you can also search for the "Xidong New Town Autonomous Driving MiniBus" WeChat Mini Program on your mobile phone, and after the reservation is successful, go to the minibus platform according to the reservation information.

These minibuses have almost realized the full imagination of public perception of autonomous driving technology: the steering wheel of the minibus without a driver will rotate on its own when turning, and the holographic road image will be mapped on the display screen in the car, and the vehicle can perceive the surrounding road conditions in real time. The minibus has a small appearance, with a full seat of 8 passengers and 1 safety officer, and a maximum speed of nearly 30 kilometers per hour. At present, these self-driving minibuses shuttle through the three lines with the most intensive travel for the people in the Xidong New Town Business District, with a single line of up to nearly 6 kilometers one-way, taking point-to-point operation and no stop in the middle.

In the Cities of the Yangtze River Delta, autonomous rail transit and self-operating container loading and unloading terminals have become commonplace, but self-driving buses are a new thing. Previously, Suzhou Wujiang District also tried, and a number of unmanned mini buses were put into trial operation. Some analysts believe that with the advancement of new infrastructure, the domestic public transportation network market will continue to grow. The existing public transportation is being networked and intelligently upgraded. In this context, short-barge minibuses facing the microcirculation of urban traffic, low-speed safety, and relatively fixed routes, are most suitable for becoming the carrier of autonomous driving technology. From the perspective of local governments, short minibuses can effectively solve the "last three kilometers" problem of citizens' daily travel, so they are also happy to see it.

Autonomous driving, each technology route is not the same. In this batch of self-driving minibuses in Wuxi, a major technical keyword is "vehicle-road collaboration". Behind the self-driving minibus is a 280-kilometer-long intelligent networked road in the Xidong New Town business district. As a technology provider of autonomous driving minibuses, Wuxi Aerospace Dawei Company is also responsible for the construction of intelligent networked roads. Wang Pengcheng, a senior engineer at the company, told reporters that Wuxi's self-driving minibuses mainly use a combination of radar and video, and at the same time coordinate with the intelligent networked road.

"In layman's terms, it is to make the road have the function of network communication." Wang Pengcheng said that the traffic light information and sensing equipment of the intelligent networked road can transmit the information obtained from the traffic flow and traffic accidents to the car in real time. At the same time, the real-time location information of the vehicle can also be obtained by the "road", so that traffic can be better controlled. Wang Pengcheng believes that the construction of intelligent networked roads may be the trend of the times. On the one hand, after more and more vehicles are installed with vehicle networking equipment, real-time interaction between cars will also be possible, which can avoid many traffic accidents. Intelligent networked roads can also adjust traffic signal control in real time, reduce drivers' blind spots, push forward accident information and weather information, and so on. This intuitive information can make urban traffic safer and more comfortable, improve traffic efficiency, and reduce the risk of accidents. On the other hand, as more and more enterprises invest in this field, related products are constantly being localized, and the construction cost of intelligent network roads is gradually reduced, which will greatly enhance the feasibility of large-scale promotion and construction.