Self-driving buses will undergo tests in one of China's largest cities, Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province at the end of October, the local bus company said on Monday.
Shenzhen Bus Group Company President Yu Gang said at a promotion event on Monday that the company will work with the National Intelligent Transport Systems Center of Engineering and Technology and Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies in jointly developing autonomous buses, Shenzhen Business Daily reported on Tuesday.
Yu said that two bus lines will be tested using self-driving buses at the end of October at the Southern University of Science and Technology.
"Self-driving bus trials would mostly be run in universities or industrial parks, which are less congested than urban roads," Jiang Shun, an investment manager for autonomous driving technologies at BAIC Capital.
Autonomous buses would help solve traffic problems with its advanced data sharing abilities and minimize labor costs in public transportation, Jiang said, adding that challenges still exist in terms of sensor technologies and market recognition.
By August, the number of daily bus passengers has reached 10.67 million in Shenzhen, which has more than 16,000 buses, said the report.
Yu also noted that the company will keep exploring bus safety and intelligence, adding that each bus will be equipped with face scanning and recognition technologies to observe behavioral and fatigue conditions, according to the report.
Several countries and regions have started trial operations for autonomous buses this year, such as Singapore, the UK, the US and France, reports said.
Besides, Taiwan also tested autonomous buses in July and placed them on a one-week trial, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
