Beijing highway open for self-driving car starting next year

As part of efforts to promote the development of self-driving car technology, authorities in Beijing have announced that a section of the Yanchong Highway on the outskirts of the city will be available as a site for vehicle testing.

A self-driving car on a road outside the World Intelligent Network Automobile Conference site in Beijing on Thursday, October 18, 2018. [Photo:VCG]

The announcement was part of a white paper released at the World Intelligent Network Automobile Conference on Friday, which featured domestic auto makers including Beijing Automobile Group, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, and First Auto Works.

At present, 123 kilometers of roads have been open for self-driving tests in the capital.

Self-driving technology is being developed for a wide range of uses in China, including for takeaway food delivery carts and fully-automated street cleaning trucks.

The smart car industry is expected to be worth around 1 trillion yuan (around 145 billion U.S. dollars) by 2022.