Wuhan, August 8 (Reporter Zhang Qin) Driving new energy off-road vehicles in various complex road conditions, riding unmanned vehicles on urban roads, experiencing the comfort and convenience brought by intelligent cockpits in different scenarios... On July 1, the "High-quality Development Research Tour" theme interview group walked into the Wuhan Economic Development Zone, known as the "China Car Valley", to explore the "Wuhan sample" of the transformation and upgrading of China's automobile industry.
The Wuhan Economic Development Zone, built for vehicles and prosperous by vehicles, brings together 9 vehicle enterprises, 13 vehicle factories and more than 500 auto parts enterprises, with an annual output of more than one million vehicles, making it one of the intensive areas of China's automobile industry.
Aerial photograph of Wuhan Economic Development Zone (data map). Photo courtesy of Wuhan Economic Development Zone
"Since its establishment three years ago, Lantu has completed the model layout of 'three categories in three years', becoming the most complete Chinese new energy vehicle company with the most complete product layout." Lantu Automobile CEO Lu Fang said in an interview with the media that adhering to scientific and technological research and development is the foundation of the automotive industry, and Wuhan Economic and Development Zone has a complete industrial chain, talent chain and ecological chain, which can provide a steady stream of internal power for independent innovation, which is why Lantu chose to take root here.
In the face of the development trend of "electrification, intelligence, networking, and sharing" in the automotive industry, the Wuhan Economic and Development Zone, as the "main battlefield" of Hubei's automotive industry, regards new energy and intelligent network as an important strategy for the development of the next-generation automotive industry, accelerates the transformation and upgrading of the automotive industry, and realizes "incremental transformation". The new energy vehicle companies represented by Lantu are an important part of the new track of the "secondary entrepreneurship" racing automobile industry in the Wuhan Economic and Development Zone.
Focusing on the layout of the new energy vehicle industry, the Wuhan Economic and Development Zone has "attracted big and strong", and "new strength" and "new forces" car companies including Lantu, Lotus, Xiaopeng, etc. have accelerated their agglomeration. In addition, Dongfeng Honda's world's first new energy benchmarking plant, Dongfeng Mengshi and other new energy vehicle projects are stepping up construction, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the Wuhan Economic Development Zone is expected to exceed 2% in the next 3 to 50 years.
The upcoming delivery of the Dongfeng Mengshi 917. Photo by Zhang Qin
Red light stop, green light walking, road meets pedestrians, it automatically slows down, avoidance... Driving in the Wuhan Economic Development Zone, self-driving taxis "wearing" an "iron hat" can be seen everywhere. There are not only "unmanned taxis", but also more than 10 kinds of autonomous vehicles such as "unmanned buses", "unmanned logistics vehicles" and "unmanned vending vehicles".
"Smart cars" cannot do without "smart roads". As early as 2019, the National Intelligent Networked Vehicle (Wuhan) Test and Demonstration Zone was unveiled in the Wuhan Economic Development Zone, which is also the first demonstration area in China to issue commercial licenses for autonomous driving. In recent years, the Wuhan Economic and Development Zone has focused on building multi-dimensional intelligent networked vehicle application scenarios, and has built the largest open-road autonomous driving demonstration zone with the largest number of scenarios and full 5G access in China.
Unmanned vehicles driving on the roads of the Wuhan Economic Development Zone. Photo by Zhang Qin
At present, the total mileage of intelligent networked vehicle test roads in the demonstration area has reached 811.56 kilometers, covering an area of 530 square kilometers. Among them, the Wuhan Economic Development Zone has an open road mileage of 669.6 kilometers, which is the first area in central China to open a test road for intelligent networked vehicles.
"Adjust your breathing while running, change tracks while overtaking." According to the relevant person in charge of Wuhan Economic Development Zone, China Auto Valley is anchoring the goal of "starting again for the second time", striving to enter the first square in the country on the new track of the next generation of automobiles and developing the automobile industry with high quality. (End)