On March 27, a launching ceremony titled “Smart Guangzhou, Connected Vehicles and the Future” was held in Guangzhou for the demonstration operation of Huadu intelligent and connected vehicle. Didi Autonomous Driving, one of the first companies to obtain Guangzhou intelligent network demonstration operation qualification, officially started commercial operation in Huadu, Guangzhou. From today, citizens can hail autonomous driving vehicles on the APP of Did Autonomous Driving and experience autonomous driving services; the fares will be charged according to actual mileage and usage time.

　　Promote the automotive industry to change lanes to intelligent connectivity

　　Build the largest intelligent and connected vehicle industry base in China

　　As one of the most innovative and open cities in China, Guangzhou has the longest road open to autonomous driving test in the country, and took the lead to launch the pilot project of mixed traffic with intelligent networked vehicles. Praised as the "automobile capital of China", Huadu is focusing on the "2+5+N" automotive industry platforms (2 main parks for engine factories, 5 auxiliary parks for intelligent connected and new energy vehicle parts, N key automobile industry projects); in addition to the largest automobile industry base in South China, another 100 square kilometers of land are assigned, and over 6.7 square kilometers are newly set aside, for the development of the automobile industry, which is meant to support the capital increase and capacity expansion of existing high-quality core parts enterprises, and to quickly finalize the introduction of new high-quality projects. The District is striving to build the largest intelligent networked vehicle industry base in China.

　　In March 2021, Didi Autonomous Driving, with the strong support of Guangzhou Municipal Government and Huadu District Government, began to operate in Guangzhou. Over the past two years, Didi Autonomous Driving has continuously invested in Guangzhou, and thanks to the open industrial policy of Guangzhou and Huadu District, as well as the high-quality business environment, the company has made breakthroughs and achievements in vehicle-road coordination, software and hardware technology, remote testing, and other fields. In January this year, models of car under Didi Autonomous Driving were selected into the Guangzhou Intelligent Networked Vehicle Model Catalog after passing safety technology testing and inspection. In March this year, Didi Autonomous Driving became one of the first companies to obtain Guangzhou intelligent network demonstration operation qualification, and took the lead to officially start commercial operation in Huadu.

　　The official operation of intelligent connected vehicles will accelerate the transformation and upgrading of Huadu's automobile industry to the intelligent, connected, electrified, and shared mode for high-quality development. What’s more, this will also accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving technology achievements, help related enterprises to achieve a virtuous cycle of operating income and technological progress, and effectively drive the further transformation and upgrading of electronic information, artificial intelligence, industrial manufacturing and other related industries, so as to satisfy the needs of the people for better life and provide a solid guarantee for the innovation and development of intelligent connected vehicles.

　　Operating area covers typical commercial and residential areas

　　High-performance perception system provides effective support for safe operation

　　Now Didi Autonomous Driving’s operation area has covered typical commercial and resident areas, such as office buildings, star hotels, scenic spots, schools, shopping malls, and residential communities. With the continuous advancement of demonstration operation and verification of commercialization, Didi Autonomous Driving will work with Huadu District to further expand its operation coverage, and gradually realize mixed dispatch of driverless and driver cars in Guangzhou based on Didi's shared travel scenarios, in which the mode of dispatch will be determined according to conditions of traffic, weather, and route, and autonomous driving vehicles will become a practical supplement to citizens' daily mobility. The two parties will continue to work together to accelerate the opening of roads in the air-rail intermodal transport zone for autonomous driving, to further improve the energy of international air-rail hubs on the strength of autonomous driving technology, and release new development momentum of Huadu Airport Economic Zone, so as to quicken the pace of constructing the northern growth pole of Guangzhou.

　　Besides rapidly promotion of intelligence level of individual cars, through cooperation with Huadu District Government, Didi Autonomous Driving has also taken the lead in building roadside facilities for vehicle-road collaboration in the main urban area of Huadu, cloud control and intelligent transportation system platforms; a high-performance road-end perception system based on perception devices such as lidar and cameras deployed on the road will be created to expand the vehicle's perception range “beyond vision”, helping to eliminate blind spots of autonomous driving. For example, a large vehicle front may prevent an autonomous driving car from detecting the movement of vehicles or pedestrians in the blind zone. Now the roadside perception facilities may come to play and synchronize information with the autonomous driving car, helping it in judgment and decision-making in advance, which will further improve the safety of autonomous driving and the experience of passengers, and provide effective support for the commercial and safe operation of autonomous driving.

　　When it comes to smart city management, Didi Autonomous Driving has built a panoramic intelligent transportation system platform for Huadu, with which any traffic congestion or traffic incident in the District will be clear at a glance. Huadu will be able to organize and optimize the traffic situation in the District based on the real-time traffic situation of the road, and to manage key vehicles. Additionally, Huadu can also dynamically adjust the time of traffic lights at intersections in the urban area according to the traffic flow, which may improve the average speed and traffic efficiency of vehicles on the road as a whole, and realize refined traffic management lane by lane.

　　"In Huadu's plan, the District will place no more than 2,500 intelligent connected vehicles for demonstration operation in five phases by 2025 to carry out a large-scale urban transportation experiment with different mixed traffic ratios, different levels of vehicle-road collaboration, and a variety of new mobility services. Autonomous driving vehicles that meet the qualification requirements will be admitted to demonstration operation within specified areas, so as to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving technology achievements,” said Liang Yongchun, Deputy Director of Huadu District Autocity Administrative Committee.

　　High-quality industry and talent policies and business environment

　　Promote clustered and soaring development of intelligent new energy vehicle industry

　　It is only two years from Didi Autonomous Driving’s settling down in Huadu in March 2021 to its successfully becoming one of the first companies to obtain Guangzhou intelligent network demonstration operation qualification and officially starting commercial operation. Such breakthroughs and achievements in so short a period of time would be impossible without the open industry and talent policies and high-quality business environment of Guangzhou and Huadu District. In recent years, adhering to the idea of a "Intelligent Manufacturing-supported District”, Huadu District has focused on the development of intelligent connected and new energy vehicle industry, accelerated the formation of industrial chain, talent chain and innovation chain, and concentrated efforts to win critical battles in modernization of industrial chain.

　　In terms of business environment and policies, Huadu has continuously accelerated the integration of talent chain, industrial chain and innovation chain; last year the "Intellectual Huadu" talent action plan was released to build a "1+1+N” comprehensive talent system with policy guarantee, and all-round supports were provided to high-level talents covering resident rent, housing, settling down, and household registration. In 2022, a total of 115 housing subsidies, with a total worth of 1.18 million yuan, were granted for the introduction of outstanding talents by enterprises; and in this January, the first assignment of settlement subsidies for 15 high-level talents (Class A) were allocated, with a cumulative amount of 1.165 million yuan.

　　This year, Huadu will carry out a "bidding” system for investment promotion to pin down projects in key industrial chains and major strategic emerging industries through a process including "proposal" and "call for bid"; the goal is to sign contracts for more than 110 high-quality projects in 2023, including no less than 6 projects with an output value (revenue) of 10 billion and no less than 30 billion-level projects. 

　　In terms of industrial chain, Huadu sticks to cultivate heavyweight engine players. Fully support was given to the development of Dongfeng Nissan, and the company officially recorded 15 million vehicle sales, which made it the fastest joint venture car company in China to achieve 15 million cumulative sales, and the only Japanese joint venture car company to do so. Dongfeng Venucia's 200,000 new energy vehicle manufacturing project, with an investment of more than 2 billion yuan, was officially launched in Huadu and will be put into production this September, which will continue to expand the manufacturing force of new energy vehicles;

　　While strengthening the foundation, Huadu insists on optimization of industrial chain. Focus is placed attracting investments in such key links of the industrial chain as automotive electronics, automotive chips, smart sunroofs, "battery-motor-inverter" system, and autonomous driving. ZF, a Fortune Global 500 company and a leading global auto parts company, has invested in Huadu to build a 10-billion-yuan factory of automotive electronics, which will supplement Guangzhou with this core parts field that happens to be the shortest board of the city’s automotive industry; Didi Autonomous Driving, which ranks among the top 100 global unicorns in 2021 and ranks first in domestic autonomous driving, and HoloMatic Technology Headquarters, JD Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Research Institute, Lianyou Zhilian and other projects has registered and settled in Huadu District; and Kinte Science and Technology Industrial Park provides BYD, CATL, CATL New Energy and others with core intelligent and integrated solutions for new energy production and testing. All these testify the clustered and soaring development of intelligent new energy vehicle industry.

　　Build an all-round intelligent connected ecosystem

　　Contribute to the construction of a trillion-level "smart car city" in Guangzhou

　　Wu Linbo, Deputy Secretary-General of Guangzhou Municipal Government, said in his speech that the development of intelligent connected vehicles is an important lever for realizing the innovation-driven development strategy, is an important historical opportunity for the automotive industry to overtake in a new lane, and has strategic significance in ensuring the independence, safety, and controllability of the automotive industry in the information age. As the fore runner of autonomous driving in China, Didi Autonomous Driving has helped Huadu District to lead in promoting autonomous driving technology research and development, commercialization of technical achievements and commercial operation, and has played an important guiding role in urging the rapid transformation and upgrading of Huadu's automobile industry to intelligence and sharing, and promoting Huadu to seize the opportunities of the global intelligent vehicle industry. It is expected that the two parties will build the innovation base for intelligent connected and new energy vehicle industry at a quickened pace, contributing to the construction of Guangzhou into a trillion-level "smart car city".

　　Xing Xiang, Party Chief of the Huadu District, pointed out that the official launch of the demonstration operation of Huadu intelligent connected vehicles was a milestone event in the high-quality development of Huadu's automobile industry. In recent years, Huadu District has been fixating on the idea of building a "Intelligent Manufacturing-supported District”; by seizing the strategic trend of "overtaking in a new lane" in the global automotive industry, and attracting leading autonomous driving enterprises such as Didi Automatic Driving, the District was promoting the formation of an industrial ecosystem, and the transformation and upgrading of Huadu's automobile industry. In the future, Huadu would deepen cooperation with enterprises, and accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving technology achievements, to provide new momentum for economic and social development.

　　Zhang Bo, CTO of Didi Chuxing and CEO of Didi Autonomous Driving, said that Didi would always adhere to its original aspiration "For Better Mobility", and continue to increase investment in the field of autonomous driving, push forward technology and business model innovation, and promote the high-quality development of China's intelligent connected vehicle industry. And Didi would take advantage of the development dynamics of Guangzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle Demonstration Zone and the unique industrial ecology of Huadu District, and deepen cooperation with Huadu District; stepping on the demonstration projects such as "mixed dispatch" and "air-rail combined transport", the company would help the transformation and upgrading of Huadu's automobile industry and create a "pilot zone of high-quality leap forward development".

　　Right at the event site, the People's Government of Huadu District signed contracts for the next round strategic cooperation with Didi Autonomous Driving, Benewake, HoloMatic Technology, Marelli Automotive Electronic, Diribo, Lianyou Zhilian Technology, Zhiyun Technology and the Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Research of Xidian University, and keys to talent houses were handed over to technicians of Didi Autonomous Driving, as part of the moves to further promote the development of intelligent connected vehicle industry and comprehensively build an innovation highland for the industry.

　　Wu Zhengming, Director of the Guangzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle Pilot Zone Operations Center, Meng Xing, COO of Didi Autonomous Driving, Wang Chunyi, Director of the Automotive Industry Section Guangzhou Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Li Weihua, Dean of School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering at South China University of Technology, Li Yuan, CEO of Benewake, and Wu Dongsheng, Senior Vice President of Gosuncn Group participated in the roundtable forum "Intelligent Transformation for Future Mobility" to discuss the commercialization of L4 autonomous driving.