Audi takes driverless tests in Wuxi

Audi has begun testing driverless vehicles in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, with a fully converted Audi Q8 equipped with automated technology, according to outlets from the company's website.

Audi used test vehicles to demonstrate automated driving on public roads with V2X (vehicle to everything) signals. C-V2X and 5G technologies are used in the production of vehicles in China.

Audi's outlets noted that Wuxi is synonymous with the internet of things and a model for smart cities. "This is where Audi China is testing connected driving in conjunction with connected infrastructure."

With more than 10 years of development in the IoT, Wuxi has made notable achievements in the industry.

In 2018, the world's first city-level internet of vehicles LTE-V2X application project was launched in Wuxi and implemented by parties including China Mobile, the Huawei and the Traffic Management Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security.

The project is designed to cover central downtown, city expressways and intercity expressways. It spans about 350 square kilometers in the city, including 600 intersections.

In 2019, Wuxi was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as the first national-level pilot area for the internet of vehicles in Jiangsu. The pilot area has been constructed with an aim to improve IoV functions and applications in the city.

The pilot area helps to gather industries and is beneficial to communication equipment, network operators and computing, local officials said. The area has granted intelligent networked automobile road test licenses to companies including Audi.

"Audi has made a quantum leap forward with its IoV technologies. Here in China, we have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to test these technologies on the road and present them to the public," said Audi China's Executive Vice President R&D Michael Hofmann. "Not only are we testing Level 4 fully autonomous driving with V2X signals on public roads for the first time in the world, but we are also using IoV technology to actually input data into the vehicle's autonomous driving system for the first time."