An artist's rendering of autopilot. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

Effective May 1, the testing and application of intelligent connected vehicles in Hangzhou are governed by a set of regulations known as the Hangzhou Municipal Regulations on Promoting the Testing and Application of Intelligent Connected Vehicles.

Hangzhou is the first provincial capital in China to legislate for the operation of ICVs on roads and the first city in the country to legislate for low-speed unmanned vehicles.

The regulations focus on specific issues in the field of road testing and innovative applications of ICVs. They lay out stipulations regarding supervision and management systems, delineation of testing and application areas, management of testing and application activities, safety and emergency response, and data security.

A total area of 3,474 square kilometers covering eight urban districts (Shangcheng, Gongshu, Xihu, Binjiang, Xiaoshan, Yuhang, Linping, and Qiantang) and Tonglu county has been designated as the testing and application area, serving a population of over 10 million.

Moreover, efforts will be made to promote the intelligent transformation and upgrade of road infrastructure, achieve a networked rate of over 95 percent for traffic signals and traffic sign identification, and upgrade and support over 3,000 5G-A base stations.

In 2023, the ICV and NEV (new energy vehicle) industrial chain in Hangzhou achieved an output value of 279.86 billion yuan. So far, 424 testing and application licenses have been issued to 16 companies, with a cumulative safety testing and application mileage of over 1.2 million km.

An artist's rendering of autopilot. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]