Hefei City of east China's Anhui Province -- an innovative city with an international influence -- has been encouraging smart transportation tests and promoting development of the relevant private enterprises with stimulus policy initiatives.
The city's Luogang Central Park, once an airport, has been transformed into a city-level laboratory where over 150 new technologies and products regarding transportation are tested.
The technologies and products range from smart sightseeing buses, driverless cleaning vehicles and transport drones, with over 90 percent developed by private enterprises.
About 16 test flights of transport drones are conducted daily at the park, with each requiring an approval in advance. Therefore, the local government has streamlined the approval process, allowing drone flight applications, airspace applications, route planning and other applications to be submitted with just one stop.
"We submit our drone flight applications to the service center one day ahead. Once we quickly receive the necessary approvals, we can conduct our tasks more efficiently and promptly," said Liu Yingjian, operation director of a local low-altitude logistics company.
Hefei currently boasts over 200 key enterprises across the low-altitude economic industry chain, along with over 900 companies focused on smart connected vehicles.
"For example, in the field of low-altitude intelligent networking, we have gathered over 10 companies and more than 80 sets of equipment from across the country, which enables them to compete on a unified platform for advanced research and development. We also assist the market players in clearing obstacles and stimulating their vitality to develop new products and technologies," said Chen Si, an official from the Hefei International Advanced Technology Application Promotion Center.
East China city encourages smart transportation tests with stimulus policies
