A driverless bus has successfully completed its trial operation after making trips on an intercity road in central China's Henan Province, Yutong Bus Co. Ltd., the bus manufacturer, announced on Monday, Sept. 7.
According to Yutong, the hybrid bus, measuring 10.5 meters, made a run around 32.6 kilometers on the intercity road linking Zhengzhou City with Kaifeng City in late August.
The Xinhua News Agency reported that the driverless bus passed all the tests, which included identifying all 26 traffic lights on the road, automatically changing lanes and overtaking vehicles in adjacent lanes.
The report said that the bus is equipped with two cameras, four laser radars, one set of millimeter wave radar and integrated navigation system.
"You can shift between driverless mode and manual mode," Tang Wang, deputy chief engineer of the company, said.
According to the report, Yutong began its research and development on driverless buses in 2012. But Tang said that technological improvement as well as legal support are needed before the bus can be launched into actual operation.
Yutong's sales volume ranked top in the world after it sold more than 60,000 units of buses and coaches in 2014. The company's products have been sold and exported to more than 120 countries and regions across the world.
Chinese search engine Baidu has also announced in June that it is working on a self-driving car in partnership with BMW. The company has also announced plans to launch its driverless vehicle within the second half of this year, ahead of Google.
Baidu senior vice president Jin Wang himself made the announcement at the China Cloud Computing conference, but gave no further details.
According to reports, Baidu is more likely to develop a traditional car that is equipped with self-driving capabilities but can still be controlled by the driver.