A driverless taxi runs in Pingshan on June 15. Photos by Xinhua

The Pingshan District People’s Government issued driverless vehicle commercialization pilot licenses to AutoX and Pengcheng Electric Baidu Apollo Joint Venture at the Pingshan Forum of the 2023 Global Intelligent Connected Vehicles Commercialization and Innovation Conference on June 17.

The government also granted licenses to Meituan, Neolix and White Rhino for testing small driverless delivery vans. China’s Ministry of Transport’s Research Institute of Highway signed an agreement with the Pingshan District People’s Government to promote driverless vehicle safety service and launch the nation’s first driverless delivery van pilot run.

The Pingshan District People’s Government issued driverless vehicle commercialization pilot licenses to AutoX and Pengcheng Electric Baidu Apollo Joint Venture and licenses to Meituan, Neolix and White Rhino for testing small driverless delivery vans June 17. Photos from WeChat account "pingshanfb"

Pingshan is accelerating the progress of infrastructure construction in the Shenzhen Intelligent Connected Transportation Testing Demonstration Zone and building connected networks on roads for driverless vehicles. The enclosed test area in the demonstration zone is expected to be completed in the second half of this year, and will support the testing of Level 3 and Level 4 intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs).

ICV is one of the 20 strategic emerging industry clusters and eight future industries that Shenzhen focuses on. Underpinned by BYD, a world leader in new energy vehicle industry, Pingshan has always been a pioneer in this field, being the first to introduce related policies and providing support for enterprises in deployment, tests, rents, talents, R&D and manufacturing. Pingshan has also established the city’s first ICV industry fund and is the only district in Shenzhen to have an intelligent connected transportation testing demonstration zone.

Neolix and White Rhino for testing small driverless delivery vans. Photos from WeChat account "pingshanfb"

In January, Pingshan released a series of policies on the all-region opening of ICVs, allowing qualified entities to conduct road tests, demonstrations and pilot runs without safety staff in the vehicles. At the China ICV Yanzi Lake Summit in December 2022, Pingshan issued pilot run notices for a total of 50 autonomous driving vehicles of AutoX and Pengcheng Electric Baidu Apollo Joint Venture.

Currently, the output value of key ICV enterprises in Pingshan accounts for around 60% of the city’s total, forming a complete ICV industrial chain. In 2022, the added value of ICVs in Pingshan hit 25.52 billion yuan, accounting for half of the city’s total. The number of large-scale enterprises in the ICV industry in Pingshan has increased from 22 in 2017 to 95 in 2022.