Chongqing Yongchuan People’s Government holding strategic cooperation signing ceremony with Baidu (Photo provided by Baidu)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Recently, Chongqing Yongchuan People’s Government held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony with Baidu. The first domestic self-driving bus demonstration operation project was officially launched in Yongchuan, Chongqing, marking a major breakthrough in the implementation of self-driving in China and the exploration of charging model.

Chongqing is the first city in China to launch a charging demonstration operation for self-driving bus, and citizens of Chongqing can make an appointment via Apollo Go, Baidu Map, Yongchuan Service Community and other APPs to experience self-driving bus. The running route covers Shennv Lake, Agricultural Machinery School, Xinglong Lake, East Gate of Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Guanyin Mountain Park and others, with a bi-direction length about 10km.

Previously, Baidu Apollo has been issued a notice of self-driving bus manned test by Chongqing Self-driving Joint Working Group. In addition to the self-driving bus charging demonstration operation license, it means that Baidu Apollo self-driving in Yongchuan will realize a technical and commercial breakthrough. Following the guidance of relevant policies and regulations of Chongqing, Baidu Apollo will begin to explore the charging model of self-driving online car booking.

Self-driving bus for citizens of Chongqing to be booked online (Photo provided by Baidu) 

More importantly, the cooperation between Yongchuan and Baidu Apollo continues to upgrade from the field of self-driving to intelligent transportation. On that day, Yongchuan and Baidu Apollo signed the strategic intelligent traffic demonstration project, and the project construction will be fully integrated into the car-road synergy, self-driving, big data, artificial intelligence and other leading technologies. Both parties will jointly explore to build a sustainable business cooperation model, and make efforts to build Yongchuan as a national intelligent traffic industry benchmarking. (Translated by Liu Hongyan, Fathom Language Limited)