Beijing grants first autonomous driving road test license to large-size public bus

Beijing (Gasgoo)- In a significant leap forward for autonomous driving in public transportation, Beijing Public Transport Corporation, along with Yizhuang’s operating company, Foton AUV, and QCraft, secured an intelligent connected vehicle road test permit from the Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area (BJHAD). 

Photo credit: Beijing Yizhuang's official WeChat account

Additionally, they obtained a road test license from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. Notably, this marks the first autonomous driving road test license for large public buses in Beijing, signaling the transition from closed-course testing to real-world public transit scenarios.

Among the key contributors, QCraft, the Chinese autonomous driving solution developer, provided the "Driven-by-QCraft" full-stack autonomous driving solution. This solution, operating at Level 4 autonomy, enables vehicles to achieve 360-degree unobstructed perception with a sensing range exceeding 200 meters. Tailored for fixed-route, medium-speed environments, it not only encompasses fundamental features like pedestrian and vehicle avoidance, lane-changing, automatic steering, and traffic signal recognition but also equips vehicles to navigate complex urban traffic situations, such as intersections with mixed pedestrian and vehicle traffic, merging vehicles, and unexpected maneuvers.

QCraft's intelligent connected passenger bus, known as "Longzhou (literally meaning "dragon boat") ONE," was granted road testing approval in Beijing in May last year. It has been fully integrated into the BJHAD 2.0 C-V2X scenarios. In March this year, the demonstration area inaugurated the city's first autonomous driving shuttle bus dedicated to education, with "Longzhou ONE" providing point-to-point shuttle services for teachers and staff commuting between two campuses of the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. This service offers them a technologically advanced and futuristic commuting experience.

Over the past year, "Longzhou ONE" has conducted regular testing on open roads within the demonstration area, offering safe and convenient passenger transportation between subway stations and office buildings in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area. This initiative has significantly accelerated the scaling and commercialization of new scenarios for intelligent connected passenger buses within the demonstration area. 

According to Cheng Xiuyuan, Commercial Vice President at QCraft, "With the approval of Beijing's high-level autonomous driving buses for testing, we are working towards establishing a model for autonomous driving operations in Beijing's public transit system, paving the way for the policy foundation of QCraft's autonomous driving solutions in new scenarios on a large scale."