Automated car training base set up

A SELF-DRIVING engineer training base was launched yesterday in Guiyang to offer a simulated offline learning environment to allow engineers to test algorithms on real vehicles.

Located in Guiyang High-tech Industrial Development Zone in Guizhou Province, the training base is equipped with advanced hardware including LiDARs, industrial cameras, industrial computer numerical control machines and metal 3D printing systems. It also has over 10 vehicles with self-driving development platforms.

The base was launched by Guizhou’s self-driving platform PIX Moving, together with Silicon Valley-based online education platform Udacity and Autoware, an open-source software for self-driving vehicles.

The base will offer a simulated offline learning environment enabling engineers to test algorithms on real vehicles.

“We need to solve many problems to develop automated vehicles for various service fields, and an open platform is one possible solution to accelerate innovation,” said Kazuya Takeda, professor at the School of Information Science, Nagoya University.

Yu Chuan, founder and CEO of Pix, said: “What we hope to build is a developer community, to develop self-driving with open-ended innovation, and to advance product development in a decentralized manner.”

Guiyang will soon introduce rules for testing intelligent and connected vehicles and issue test licenses, the local government said.

The city has drawn sections of roads in the Shawen Eco Tech Park, Guiyang’s High-tech Industrial Development Zone, as the first-phase to test roads. At the same time, Guiyang is to build a 20-kilometer-long road combining a large number of high-tech products and elements, including self-driving.

“Apart from strong policy support, the pleasant weather conditions make the city a suitable place for the training base, Robert Hsiung, general manager of Udacity China, said.