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chao news client reporter chen wei, intern sheng zhuoran, correspondent tong yufeng, wang quan

on september 12, hangzhou bus took the lead in integrating cutting-edge ai technology into public transportation services and launched the country's public transportation industry's first real-life ai digital person - "lao ma".

this ai digital human is a virtual image that is digitally reproduced based on a real person through artificial intelligence technology. by collecting and simulating the real person's appearance, expression, movement, voice and other characteristics, it restores the real person's image and behavioral characteristics as much as possible, so as to be closer to the passenger group and facilitate interaction and broadcasting.

the digital man "lao ma" in the video is wearing a neat bus uniform and has a natural expression. he also raises his hands to gesture vividly when introducing various initiatives.

the prototype of "lao ma" is ma jun, an ordinary driver of hangzhou's first bus line 7.

"the preparation for ai digital humans began in the first half of this year. in early august, we solicited prototypes of hangzhou public transport's ai digital humans from various units and recommended selecting them from front-line drivers." a relevant person in charge of hangzhou public transport told reporters that based on his comprehensive work performance as well as his friendly and dedicated image, 52-year-old master ma jun stood out from nearly 10,000 front-line drivers.

in a professional studio, the team collected data on ma jun's appearance, expressions, movements, voice, etc. after about a week, the ai ​​digital human was trained and officially created.

"i'm very happy and honored." ma jun smiled a little embarrassedly when interviewed by reporters.

after joining hangzhou public transport group at the age of 18, master ma has been working on the front line, working as a conductor and driver. as a front-line driver, master ma's total safe driving mileage has exceeded 920,000 kilometers.

photo courtesy of the bus company

he has driven bus routes 306, 18 and 9. he was one of the first to try out the double-decker buses and the first batch of convertibles in hangzhou in the 1990s.

master ma said that he was chosen as the prototype of the digital man because he represented the most ordinary and real side of bus drivers, which would make passengers feel more friendly. on the other hand, he also benefited from the influence of route 7.

"hangzhou's no. 7 bus is well-known throughout the country and has a history of a hundred years. when foreign tourists come to hangzhou, the first thing they see is the no. 7 bus, which represents the face of hangzhou." speaking of this "star route" with a long history, ma jun became more talkative: "not everyone can drive no. 7. the road conditions along the route are also relatively complicated. usually, only experienced drivers with more than 10 years of driving experience and no accidents have the opportunity to drive."

in 2002, master ma waited for the opportunity to recruit new drivers for route 7. the old driver was about to retire and needed a young driver to replace him. after passing the driving skills competition, master ma finally got a job driving route 7.

hangzhou bus introduction: later, ai digital person "lao ma" will serve as an important carrier to introduce various innovative service measures of hangzhou bus, provide travel suggestions and other all-round intelligent services to citizens and passengers on hangzhou bus wechat official account, mobile tv on buses and electronic road signs at some popular stations. of course, passengers can also meet the "real" lao ma by chance when taking bus no. 7.

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