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ruqi travel has been approved to conduct robotaxi road tests in hengqin. photo by zhao yuqi, a reporter from southern metropolis daily

driverless minibuses have been tested in hengqin for nearly two years.

nandu news: recently, driverless cars in the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone have made two major breakthroughs. hengqin's intelligent networked autonomous driving cars have officially started long-distance highly autonomous driving road tests, entering a new era of "no steering wheel". at the same time, ruqi travel has been approved to carry out robotaxi road tests throughout hengqin. although hengqin has realized the application of intelligent networked autonomous driving cars since september 2022, this time the field of driverless driving has ushered in another breakthrough. however, driverless taxis are being tested and have not yet officially hit the road, and driverless minibuses currently have problems such as "few trips and slow speeds", and even traffic accidents have occurred.

it will still take some time for autonomous driving to be integrated into daily life in hengqin. in view of the lagging progress of autonomous driving in other cities, the urban planning and construction bureau of hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone is trying to speed up the process.

testing "upgrade"

hengqin autonomous driving test achieves "no steering wheel"

hengqin's autonomous driving test application has entered the "steering wheel-free" era. recently, the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone urban planning and construction bureau announced that hengqin's intelligent networked autonomous driving vehicles have officially started long-distance highly autonomous driving road testing.

however, the current testing phase is limited to on-board safety officers, and manned testing and application are not yet open to the public. but as the technology continues to mature and the regulatory system gradually improves, citizens can look forward to experiencing a new travel experience with "steering wheel-free" self-driving minibuses in the near future.

it is understood that remote highly automated driving means that the safety officer evacuates the driver's seat and the vehicle drives automatically under the premise of achieving real-time mobile communication between the vehicle and the remote monitoring platform. in the event of an emergency, the vehicle can be taken over in time through a remote seat or manually to ensure driving safety.

this long-distance highly automated driving road test covers many complex scenarios, including recognition and response of traffic signs and traffic lights, recognition of driving status of vehicles ahead, recognition and avoidance of pedestrians and non-motor vehicles, including following vehicles, pulling over, overtaking and merging, and passing through intersections and roundabouts.

in this test, the steering wheel was removed from the minibus, and the safety officer was moved from the traditional driving position to the back seat. relying on the completely independently developed redundant sensor suite and fusion algorithm, the minibus has achieved 360-degree perception without blind spots. with the support of the 5g remote assistance system, it can provide timely assistance suggestions even in extreme weather and special traffic scenarios, and ensure the efficiency and safety of the minibus through multiple safety measures.

according to the "management rules for road testing and demonstration application of intelligent connected vehicles in the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone", after expert review and approval by the hengqin intelligent connected vehicle autonomous driving working group meeting, guangzhou weride technology co., ltd. has obtained the qualification to conduct long-distance highly automated driving road testing.

the urban planning and construction bureau of the cooperation zone stated that the successful practice of this long-distance highly automated driving road test was a key step based on the preliminary testing and application demonstration of the autonomous driving minibus, and laid the foundation for the subsequent promotion of fully unmanned driving technology.

while the self-driving minibuses are being upgraded, the new market favorite, driverless taxis, have landed in hengqin. recently, ruqi travel was approved to conduct robotaxi road tests throughout hengqin.

it is reported that ruqi travel is a travel platform under gac group, which officially started operation in hengqin in april 2021. according to the "management rules for road testing and demonstration application of intelligent connected vehicles in the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone (trial)", after completing the relevant road test goals and being reviewed and approved by relevant departments, ruqi robotaxi will officially start demonstration operations in the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone to provide autonomous driving travel services for the general public.

passengers complain

self-driving minibuses have been tested for nearly two years and have slow speeds and long departure intervals

nandu reporter learned that driverless cars have always been a key development area in hengqin. on september 15, 2022, the application of intelligent networked autonomous driving vehicles was launched in the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone. in september 2022, the first batch of about 22 kilometers of test sections were opened in the cooperation zone, and the second batch of about 80 kilometers of test sections were opened in december of the same year; in march 2023, the third batch of about 93 kilometers of test sections were opened.

on july 26, 2024, the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone urban planning and construction bureau once again announced that it would open up a 330-kilometer road network as a test and demonstration section for intelligent connected autonomous vehicles, providing a broader space for the application of autonomous vehicles in hengqin. the opening of the road network means that autonomous vehicles can be tested on more sections of hengqin, which is also a key step from "testing" to "formal operation."

the hengqin urban planning and construction bureau has also repeatedly stated that with the help of full-area opening up, it hopes to drive the further improvement and development of the intelligent transportation-related industrial chain, and promote hengqin to gradually form an intelligent connected vehicle industry cluster integrating research and development, testing, and application.

however, the driverless minibus, which has been tested for nearly two years, has been frequently complained by passengers.

first, the departure interval is too long and the waiting time is too long. starting from august 19, the hengqin intelligent networked autonomous driving car "science and technology innovation center-innovation square" line was officially opened, realizing the coverage of the autonomous driving minibus line in the east-west direction of hengqin island. this route, which is only 20 minutes in total, has a departure interval of 40 minutes. the "hengqin port-macau new neighborhood" line, a route with a relatively large flow of people, has attracted many macau residents to complain about "difficulty in waiting for the bus" online since its opening in september 2023 due to the 35-minute departure interval. until recently, the operator increased the number of daily vehicles on the line from the existing 2 l4-level autonomous driving minibuses to 4, and the daily operating frequency from the current 22 to 43, and the departure interval was shortened from 35 minutes to about 15 minutes.

second, the speed is too slow. a reporter from nandu once experienced an unmanned minibus on the flower sea corridor and found that the average speed of the entire journey was only 20 kilometers per hour. in response, many citizens posted that "it's okay to experience the novelty, but it's unrealistic to regard it as a means of transportation." the reporter also drove the unmanned minibus "science and technology innovation center-innovation square" route. the minibus takes 20 minutes to travel the route, but the reporter only took 8 minutes while strictly following the speed limit.

third, there are still safety hazards. on april 23, 2024, a traffic accident in hengqin where an unmanned minibus crashed into a roadside green belt attracted attention. the unmanned minibus stopped horizontally on the green belt between the non-motorized vehicle lane and the motor vehicle lane. some staff tried to pad the tires with wooden boards to help the vehicle get out of trouble. regarding the accident, the operator told reporters that it was a slippery road on rainy days. there were no passengers when the accident happened. it was a transfer vehicle. the accident occurred under manual operation by the safety officer and no one was injured.

speed ​​up the implementation

is the official operation too slow to land? hengqin has started to "speed up"

on august 27, at a press conference held by the state council information office, the relevant person in charge of the ministry of public security introduced that, at present, after continuous technical accumulation and test development, my country's unmanned and autonomous driving car industries are advancing in an orderly manner. the public security organs have issued a total of 16,000 autonomous driving car test license plates and opened 32,000 kilometers of public test roads. according to media reports, the previously highly-watched unmanned taxi brand "luobokuaipao" has opened manned test operation services in 11 cities, and has carried out fully unmanned autonomous driving travel service tests in beijing, wuhan, chongqing, shenzhen and shanghai.

in comparison, hengqin's progress in the implementation of driverless cars has lagged behind many domestic cities.

in fact, as a relatively closed island, hengqin has many advantages in the field of driverless cars. for example, people related to kuwa robotics have said that although hengqin did not start too early in the field of driverless cars, it has the conditions to overtake others in the entire testing process. the cooperation zone has geographical advantages, including boulevards, urban roads, rural roads, mountain roads, roundabouts, coastal roads and other complex urban scenes, which can provide a lot of possibilities for the testing of autonomous driving companies.

for this reason, hengqin is currently trying to speed up the deployment of driverless cars. "currently, five test cars are being tested on the hengqin road, and citizens will be invited to take a ride in the near future," said a staff member of ruqi travel's driverless taxi.

on august 29, zhang guoji, director of the urban planning and construction bureau of the hengqin guangdong-macao deep cooperation zone, revealed to the media that ruqi robotaxi plans to officially open commercial operation tests in hengqin at the end of september, when users can directly take a taxi.

written by: nandu reporter zhu pengjing