Autonomous vehicles from Nansha allowed on high-speed roads

On May 21, Pony.ai from Nansha district announced that it has obtained the first permit for high-speed autonomous vehicle testing in Guangzhou. This marks a significant step as self-driving vehicles in the province are now free to operate at faster speeds for speedier commutes and other forms of travel.

This marks the first batch of high-speed autonomous vehicle testing routes in Guangzhou, including Nansha Port Expressway and Conghua–Huangpu Expressway (Phase I), with a total length of 105 kilometers, designated as high-speed L1 testing routes.

Autonomous vehicle of Pony.ai is allowed on high-speed roads. [Photo/WeChat account: gz_nanshafabu]

By the end of 2023, Guangzhou opened nearly 780 testing roads spanning six administrative districts, laying a solid foundation for the widespread adoption and commercialization of autonomous driving technology.

Mo Luyi, vice president of Pony.ai, mentioned that the opening of the routes will diversify the types of road tests for intelligent connected vehicles in Guangzhou, providing users with a more comprehensive autonomous driving service and facilitating more efficient and convenient logistics services with autonomous trucks.

The permitted vehicle models include the Toyota Sienna equipped with Pony.ai's sixth-generation autonomous driving passenger car system and the Sany Heavy Industry truck equipped with Pony.ai's third-generation autonomous driving truck system.

Looking ahead, Nansha is poised to become a key hub for the development of the intelligent connected vehicle industry chain. It aims to conduct pilot applications of autonomous driving at a large scale and provide autonomous urban mobility services across the entire district.