北京高速路将施划“智能网联”专道 自动驾驶将载人运行 – Beijing Daily
What happened: Beijing authorities plan to accelerate the mass production of Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous vehicles and construction of high-speed intelligent roads, according to a planning document released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology. The city also aims to develop smart solutions for bus and logistics transportation. It is estimated that the size of the city’s intelligent road network and related industries will reach RMB 100 billion (around $15 billion) by 2022.
Why it’s important: The release of the plan shows Beijing’s resolve in driving innovation in its transportation system while pushing to meet the country’s Made in China 2025 goals. Beijing is not alone in seeking to use smart city solutions and intelligent road networks. It is a growing trend in increasing numbers of cities in the country. Other cities include Hangzhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. Alibaba’s City Brain project, launched in 2016, has been used to improve traffic flow, predict traffic, and detect accidents using a wide range of data.