Two driverless cars, produced by Changan Automobile, departed from Chongqing on Tuesday for China's first long-distance driverless car test drive, according to Xinhua.
Over the 2,000-kilometer five-day journey the two cars will pass through Xi’an and Zhengzhou, with Beijing as their final destination. It is anticipated that the driverless cars will undertake most of the independent driving, such as driving at high-speed through traffic. However human testers will be onboard to help the cars pass through toll booths and refuel.
The driverless cars are equipped with high-definition cameras and high-tech equipment such as millimeter-wave radar and unmanned central controllers, allowing the cars to reach full-speed cruise control, process traffic congestion information and change lanes automatically.
But how safe are the driverless cars? Safety is the number one concern, according to remarks made by Changan Automobile Engineering & Research Institute engineer-in-chief Li Yusheng to Xinhua. Li also stated that the cars’ autopilot functions are set up with dual backup systems to ensure that if a system breakdown occurs, the vehicle will be able to continue driving.
Plus, to ensure that the onboard testers can adequately respond to situations on the road, the testers were present throughout vehicle development as well as required to have more than three years of driving experience.
Changan aims to put driverless cars into commercial use in 2018. Internationally, there are at least 18 companies developing autonomous cars, including BMW, Audi and Toyota. Chinese challengers, meanwhile, include BAIC group, BYD, GAC Group and SAIC Motor.
[Images via Xinhua]
0 User Comments