China's first fully integrated vehicle testing ground starts trial operation

China's first fully integrated automobile testing ground has started trial operation on Saturday in Shangrao City, east China's Jiangxi Province, marking a significant milestone for the country's automotive industry.

The sprawling 4.11 million-square-meter facility boasts over 65 kilometers of test tracks, including a high-speed loop, dynamic plaza, and intelligent connected vehicle testing area, encompassing 16 testing modules and 118 specialized road types.

Designed to accommodate testing a wide range of vehicles, from traditional fuel-powered cars to new energy vehicles, and from passenger cars to commercial trucks and buses, the testing ground offers comprehensive evaluation capabilities.

The intelligent driving test area utilizes China's homegrown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and 5G technology to provide nearly 100 functional test scenarios for autonomous and connected vehicles, offering comprehensive technical support for signal perception, data analysis, and the entire testing process.

Yao Jie, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, emphasized the significance of the facility.

"It is a fully integrated testing ground, which plays a very positive role in improving the overall testing capabilities of China's automobile industry, provides new opportunities for regional economic growth, and is also of great significance to improving the technological development of China's independent brands and the progress of China's automobile industry chain," said Yao.

Often referred to as the industry's benchmark, automobile testing grounds are essential for evaluating vehicle performance, conducting prototype tests, and refining designs post-production. This new facility incorporates innovative designs and intelligent systems to enhance precision in testing.

"Our test car can reach a top speed of over 309 kilometers per hour on this flat road, which is very helpful for us to test the high-speed endurance of the vehicle," said Dong Yanshi, an automotive test engineer.

The testing ground also boasts a nearly 8-kilometer high-speed loop with a maximum speed of 330 kilometers per hour and a maximum banking angle of 44.43 degrees, allowing for comprehensive testing of vehicle performance and safety as such high-speed testing conditions mean that even minor surface irregularities can pose significant safety risks.

"We have deployed more than 187,000 control data along the highway, using special construction techniques for curved paving to achieve millimeter-level road surface smoothness," said Liu Guowang, engineer of Shangrao Automobile Comprehensive Test Field of China First Highway Engineering Group.

Additionally, the facility features roads with 11 different slopes ranging from 7 percent to 60 percent, along with artificial ice surfaces to simulate driving conditions in rain, snow, and ice.

Sound testing is also a focus, with a specialized "noise road" designed to analyze abnormal sounds emitted by vehicles. Two reflective walls are strategically placed to enhance sound concentration for better analysis by engineers.

"With these two walls, the sound can be better concentrated and reflected to the test engineer, making it easier for him to analyze the cause of the abnormal noise, including the car's chassis, engine and other abnormal noise conditions," said Gu Julong, director of Shangrao Automobile Comprehensive Test Field of China First Highway Engineering Group.

As the automotive industry moves towards intelligent connectivity, the intelligent connected vehicle testing area, using 5G and Beidou technologies, features advanced scenarios such as elevated bridges and tunnels for assessing smart vehicle functionalities in sensing, computing, decision-making, and execution in GPS-challenging environments.

Additionally, a comprehensive virtual simulation scene library comprising over 1,000 typical test scenarios enables pre-road simulation testing, resulting in multiple patents in intelligent connected vehicle technologies, and solidifying its position as a leading facility for automotive development in China.

China's first fully integrated vehicle testing ground starts trial operation

China will continuously build a robust domestic market to bolster its economy and counter external challenges in accordance with the requirements and arrangement from the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which put domestic demand at the forefront of eight key tasks for next year's economic work, according to experts.

The tone-setting conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday in which the Chinese leadership decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.

Over the past four years, domestic demand has contributed an average of 86.4 percent to China's economic growth, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.

"The top priority is to expand domestic demand as the key reason for this is that our demand is relatively weak. The first step here is figuring out how to increase consumption," said Chen Binkai, vice president of Central University of Finance and Economics.

Consumption has continued to play a leading role in the country's economic growth this year. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 53.5 percent to economic growth, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to the whole of last year.

The annual Central Economic Work Conference proposed that in 2026, a special campaign to boost consumption will be implemented in depth, the supply of high-quality goods and services will be expanded, policies on new and emerging industries will be optimized, unreasonable restrictions in the consumption field will be eliminated, and the potential of service consumption will be unleashed.

"Previously, much of the consumption we have encouraged is for manufactured goods. However, the growth rate of our service sector is not as ideal as that of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, increasing some investment to encourage consumption in the service sector may play a better role in stabilizing growth and expanding domestic demand," said Huang Qunhui, a researcher of the Institute of Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Experts said that income is the primary factor determining consumption, and only by increasing residents' disposable income, can their consumption capacity be improved.

They also said that the conference, while emphasizing the promotion of consumption, also clearly pointed out the need to formulate and implement a plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents.

"The Third Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] mentioned the need to increase the proportion of residents' income, specifically the proportion of labor compensation within that income. The Fourth Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] further proposed implementing a specific income-increasing plan for urban and rural residents. Of course, consumption is not solely an income issue. We need to strengthen basic public services and improve our social security fund. If these issues are further improved and optimized, and residents have higher incomes, they will be more willing to spend more on consumption, especially on development-oriented consumption," said Huang.

Expanding domestic demand remains top priority for China's economic work in 2026: experts