Dongfeng Motor will join hands with such Chinese leading self-driving startups as Auto X, DeepRoute.ai and UISEE to build China's largest autonomous driving fleet in Wuhan Economic & Technological development Zone, according to an agreement signed by the automaker and local authority on August 25.
Under the project supported by Dongfeng and Wuhan, a good-sized autonomous driving fleet is to be built in Wuhan Economic & Technological development Zone to carry out pilot operations under smart traffic scenarios, such as Robotaxi and AVP (automated valet parking). By leveraging some car-sharing platforms like DFGO, Dongfeng Motor's ride-hailing service platform, all parties will jointly explore the business models for the commercial operation of autonomous driving technologies and applications.
What's more, all participants engaged in the cooperation aim to develop the vehicle fleet with at least 200 autonomous cars to be deployed by the end of 2022 and expand the Wuhan-based state-level demonstration zone for ICV tests beyond the Economic & Technological development Zone to the city's core urban areas.
In the meantime, local authority also struck deals for another 11 projects related to digitalization, intelligence and connectivity businesses, including an intelligent-connected innovation hub supported by Huawei.
“We expect to see the open roads for 5G-coverd V2X-enabled autonomous car tests at the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Wuhan) Testing Pilot Zone span over 100km this year”, an official from the Smart Eco-City Management Office of Wuhan Economic & Technological development Zone said.
He added that an autonomous driving application system will be built as well for the pilot applications and commercial operations under abundant scenarios like self-driving bus, logistics distribution, car-sharing, intelligent parking, AVP, sanitation and port good transport.
