Visitors get ready to take a ride on an autonomous minibus developed by tech company Baidu at the Global Future Mobility Conference in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday. The four-day event, which has attracted more than 100 enterprises, displays cutting-edge technologies and future trends in the transportation industry such as new-energy vehicles, smart cars and autonomous vehicles. Photo: VCG

China will continue to promote its autonomous auto-driving industry, accelerating scientific and technological research and innovations and become a global standards pace-setter in the sector, officials from the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on Tuesday at a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council.

Vice Minister of Transport Liu Xiaoming said that China has now improved the top-level design of autonomous vehicles, set some 10 standards and developed key technologies like a cooperative smart vehicle infrastructure platform. 

According to Liu, China has constructed six closed field test sites in a bid to ensure safety and service levels for autonomous vehicles tests, and is proactively strengthening cooperation and technical exchanges with Germany and the Netherlands. 

China is developing autonomous vehicle pilot projects in many cities and provinces including  Beijing, Shanghai and North China's Hebei Province. The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing and neighboring Hebei, and the 2022 ITS World Congress will be held in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province.

Looking ahead, China will integrate transportation infrastructure, transportation service, energy and information networks to develop its autonomous vehicle industry and new infrastructure, and to build China's strength in transportation, Liu said.

Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng said that China will invest 800 billion yuan ($112.5 billion) in the development of major transportation projects. 

Global Times