This file photo taken in August 2025 shows a drone collecting data from an ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission line in Xuancheng, east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua)
HEFEI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- In the MAEXTRO Super Factory in Hefei, capital city of east China's Anhui Province, every new energy vehicle (NEV) rolling off the assembly line is born with a "twin."
One is a tangible machine of steel, circuits and sensors, ready for the road, while the other is its virtual replica living in the cloud. This is not science fiction, but the daily reality of this "digital twin" factory, where physical manufacturing and digital simulation run in lockstep.
Jointly built by Anhui-based automaker JAC Group and tech firm Huawei, the MAEXTRO Super Factory specializes in producing premium NEVs, with intelligent manufacturing at its core.
Inside the factory, real-time data collected by robots, cameras and sensors along the production line are transmitted to the factory's "digital twin" system at a rate of about 300,000 data entries per second, allowing the system to simulate the entire production process of each vehicle, according to Wei Dawei, an executive with the factory.
As a new car is being built in the physical world, a virtual replica of its production journey plays out in perfect synchronization on a nearby screen.
"The digital twin is far more than a simple 3D copy. It functions as the factory's intelligent brain," Wei said, noting that this technology is deeply integrated into the factory's quality control and process optimization endeavors.
Likening the digital twin system to a human metabolism capable of "self-evolution through continuous iteration," Wei said that by applying AI to analyze manufacturing data, the system helps optimize workflows and improve efficiency.
From factory floors to urban infrastructure, digital twin technology is gaining rapid traction across China. By bridging the physical and digital worlds in real time, such technology is emerging as a key enabler of the country's digital transformation, extending far beyond manufacturing into areas such as energy, transportation and public services.
The power sector is a prime example. According to Song Yufei, director of the UAV Inspection Operation Management Center at State Grid Anhui Electric Power Co., Ltd., utility workers in Anhui deploy drones equipped with LiDAR to scan transmission tower structures and transmission line right-of-way. After data matching, point cloud filtering and uniform sampling, the system generates LiDAR point cloud models that replicate real-world conditions with centimeter-level accuracy.
The integration of these digital twin models with AI has significantly enhanced emergency response capabilities in the sector, Song said.
He cited an incident last year involving a transmission line fault, when technicians needed to quickly determine the minimum distance between multiple nodes. "Using traditional methods such as checking blueprints and manual calculations would have taken at least 30 minutes," he explained.
Notably, by accessing digital twin models, the required data was obtained in just five minutes.
Digital twin technology is also finding fertile ground in heritage protection and smart logistics.
In northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the ancient Xi'an City Wall has been modeled with centimeter-level precision to enable around-the-clock digital monitoring. In the eastern Shandong Province, Rizhao Port has developed a marine digital twin platform that integrates topography, meteorology, water flow and vessel data, which has improved berthing and unberthing efficiency by 10 percent.
Noting that the combination of digital twins and AI is already reshaping the NEV industry, Wei said he expects the future of manufacturing to become even more intelligent. ■
This undated photo shows an automated production line of the MAEXTRO Super Factory in Feixi County of Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua)
