Changan Automobile achieves mass production of Level 3 autonomous driving tec

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Changan Automobile announced it has achieved the mass production of Level 3 autonomous driving technology, a milestone in the autonomous vehicle development history for both the automaker and China.

On March 10, the Chongqing-based automaker demonstrated to the public the trial driving running on its mass-produced Level 3 technology with the UNI-T, the first product of the “UNI” series, as the tested vehicle.

Powered by 5 millimeter-wave radars, 6 cameras and 12 ultrasonic radars, the significant system is able to detect and recognize various objects and obstacles such as vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, lane lines, guardrails and signposts as far as 200 meters ahead with an accuracy standing at 10 centimeters, said the company. Thanks to the cooperation of sensors, HD map and ADAS map, the system can grasp in real time road conditions about 8 km afar.

Besides, by monitoring a driver's status like eyes gaze and fatigue, the system makes decision when and how to take over the driving mission.

Changan said it fulfilled the development of all core technologies on its own and 100% hold the intellectual property rights of the whole system algorithm. To achieve a reliable volume production, the developer cumulated roughly 50 million-km testing range in tens of thousands of scenarios. Certainly, the tests on public roads are essential to the final outcome.

The automaker commenced the autonomous driving development as early as 2009. It has by far created quite a few “firsts” among Chinese automakers in this field—the first one in China that completed a long distance (2,000 km) self-driving vehicle test; the first one that accomplished the mass production of APA (active park assist) 4.0 & IACC (integrated adapted cruise control); the first Chinese automaker that obtained license plates for intelligent vehicle road tests from both China and the U.S. authorities.

According to the blue print of “Dubhe” Intelligent Strategy, Changan will gradually realize the L4 autonomous driving volume production in 2025 with the in-car system completely voice controlled.