BYD demonstrates self-driving SkyRail system

China's biggest electric carmaker BYD on Wednesday officially showed the world its automatic driving technology with the launch of a self-driving monorail system in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

The company also plans to develop the technology for its buses on fixed routes, such as for airports and harbors, by around 2020 and even apply it to passenger vehicles in the future, according to one of the company's executives.

The SkyRail, which started operating last August with human drivers, has now become China's first driverless straddle-type monorail system with 100 percent proprietary intellectual property rights. In the second quarter of 2018, the new train will be officially put into use at a speed up to 80 kilometers per hour.