Guangzhou OKs automatic driving in pilot zones

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, has given green light to launch automatic driving in the pilot roads and areas in Nansha and Huangpu districts to comply with the urgent demand for the development of intelligent automobile industry.

Huadu district will soon follow the pilot plan, according to a report from Guangzhou Daily on Thursday.

The southern metropolis is now taking the lead in the pilot areas to launch the application demonstration operation of automatic driving vehicles in different mixed roads and environment, and explore the establishment of a policy management system that meets different mixed roads and environment, said the newspaper.

"And automatic driving will gradually be able to cover the entire city when conditions are ripe," it said.

At the beginning, mainly cabs, online hailing cars, buses and cargo vehicles are encouraged to start the automatic driving in the pilot roads and areas, it added. 

Guangzhou, one of the country's transportation hubs, has now granted licenses to 127 automatic driving vehicles from 10 companies to start trial operations.

By the end of June, automatic driving companies in Guangzhou city have completed more than 2.55 million kilometers of road testing, with no accidents reported so far.