by Xinhua writer Wu Yanxia
CHONGQING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Without a driver, an online car-hailing service arrives as scheduled, the passengers sit in the back seat, and the steering wheel turns autonomously... This is not a movie clip, nor a novel plot, but a common commuting scene in Yongchuan District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.
Traveling in such a self-driving vehicle in Chongqing, a mountainous city known for its complex and multidimensional urban transportation roads and urban design, is more challenging than I could imagine before my very first attempt.
Many Chinese netizens dub Chongqing, where I live, as a futuristic city with "8D magical terrains," due to its irregular topographic relief and unique traffic system. Taking into its criss-crossing overpasses, bridges, slopes into account, I began to wonder how it would be possible to operate vehicles without a human driver in this mountainous city.
Zhang Dan, a staff member of Baidu's strategic operations department, explained to me that it is exactly the city's diverse terrains and distinctive traffic design that helped Chongqing become a "comprehensive examination field" for autonomous road tests.
I have taken interest in such things like driverless vehicles ever since my childhood. Piles of science fiction novels I read back then fueled my great expectations of an intelligent city life in the future.
In Yongchuan District, though, the faraway teenage fantasy just seems so close at hand.
Yongchuan sits between Chongqing and Chengdu, the capital of the neighboring Sichuan Province. It is now a hub node of Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, another important regional development strategy in China, and the strategic fulcrum of Chongqing's metropolitan area.
In September 2020, the western autonomous driving open test and demonstration operation base was completed and put into use in Yongchuan. An automatic driving test system including twin simulation, closed roads and open roads has been established in the district, which covers 30 typical road test scenarios like urban roads, expressways, rural roads and mountain roads.
At present, the road test mileage for autonomous driving in Yongchuan has exceeded 2 million kilometers, making it rank first in terms of the road test number among other western Chinese cities and districts.
And the technology has gone beyond mere tests. On April 12, 2021, driverless buses were officially put into operation in the district.
Out of curiosity and flushed with the joy of having a futuristic venture, I took the first ride on the self-driving bus: a red Baidu Apollo one. Seeing the vehicle slowly pulled into the bus stop, I got on the bus with other excited citizens. It was not only the first time that an autonomous bus was put into operation in both Chongqing and other part of China, but also an encouraging sign of the commercialization of unmanned driving.
A few months later after my bus ride, in December 2021, the internet giant Baidu invested five "Robotaxi" unmanned autonomous vehicles for online car-hailing services in Yongchuan. After seven months of running various trials and tests, in August 2022, Baidu put an additional 25 of such "Robotaxi" vehicles into use, officially carrying out L4 unmanned autonomous driving commercial demonstration operations in Yongchuan.
Of course, being a big fan of autonomous ride, I was eager to try "Robotaxi." And this time, I was not alone, but together with my friend Jorah Kai Wood, a Canadian writer and teacher living in China.
I just loved the thrill of confusing illusion and reality when having a novel experience. So did Jorah.
It was an eye-opener: We ordered a car using the "Robotaxi" mobile application. A few minutes later, an online car-hailing vehicle marked with the "Robotaxi" logo stopped beside us with double flashes. Its overhead radar-like equipment and white car body caught my eyes as if it was only just a dream.
After I typed in the last four digits of my phone number for its verification, the taxi door automatically opened. Having lying himself comfortably in the back seat, Jorah found the cab empty. He said to me that he was somewhat worried since there was not a safety officer onboard to deal with unexpected problems. Meanwhile, he admitted that he was way more excited than uneasy.
We fastened our seat belts, clicked the button "start travel" on the phone, and the car hit the road. During the whole driving process, "Robotaxi" abided by the traffic rules well, followed the traffic lights and kindly waited for passing pedestrians. Whether the front car slowed down or stopped, our vehicle seemed to handle all the situations on the road with ease, without unpleasant sudden brakes or any bumps.
The screen inside the car displayed our real-time travel conditions, driving speed and the remaining distance of our trip, as well as the surrounding vehicles. As I gradually grew accustomed to the driverless ride, I began to enjoy the similar feeling of traveling through time and space given by "Robotaxi."
Jorah was quite reluctant when getting off. "Ten minutes' driving is so smooth and comfortable. This experience is wonderful!" he couldn't help exalting the invisible "driver" -- science and technology behind the whole taxi travel.
"This is a marvel of artificial intelligence and high-tech, and this is the future of China," he concluded. Well, it seems that now, I am not the only one to be overwhelmed by the magic of autonomous driving.
Zhang Dan told me that the "Robotaxi" operation has now achieved full coverage in Yongchuan's urban area, and its demonstration operation area can reach more than 80 square kilometers. That means, 350 unmanned intelligent stations and more than 500 boarding and alighting stations in the district can actually meet a diversity of travel needs of local citizens, no matter if it is daily commuting, shopping or just going out for leisure.
I am glad to see how digital life is shaping the real world. High-tech is the new magic to lift the limit of time and space and unleash infinite possibilities for ordinary Chinese urbanites.
The two experiences have given me certain assurance to say that self-driving cars have reached a new level in China. Step by step, buses, online car-hailing taxis, logistics and sanitation vehicles have all adopted such self-driving technologies across the country. With more and more cities connected to the daily application scenes of self-driving, I believe in a wilder dream of technology-powered future. ■
