Autonomous vehicles may now be tested on any public road in Hengqin, its local government has announced – with the new rule taking effect last Friday.
The move means about 330 kilometres of roading is available for testing and demonstrations, allowing self-driving cars to interact with a wider range of traffic conditions than previously. Hengqin started opening up its roads for this purpose in September 2022, with just 20 kilometres made available. As of March 2023, autonomous vehicles had permission to use 195 kilometres of the island’s roads.
Officials said they believed more firms and research institutions that specialised in self-driving vehicles would be drawn to Hengqin due to the new rules, which would in turn spur the local smart transportation industry’s development.
[See more: A Hengqin-Macao ride-hailing app could be a game-changer]
“Not only does [the move] allow for further testing of the autonomous driving vehicle’s ability to detect [obstacles], make decisions and carry out operations, but it can also help car makers to collect more comprehensive road data – which can improve the calculations of the autonomous driving vehicles,” one official was quoted as saying.
They also pointed out that enhanced testing would help raise the public’s confidence and receptiveness to the technology.
Macao has also been experimenting with self-driving technology, albeit at a smaller scale. For example, the University of Macau tested a self-driving bus on its campus in late 2020. In 2022, the bus ventured off the campus and travelled to Hengqin for a more challenging demonstration of its capabilities.
