Two unmanned 5G-connected vehicles, the autonomous driving electric truck HOWO-5G and a low-speed autonomous driving electric bus, began trial testing on Jan 22 in Jinan, capital city of East China's Shandong province.

The vehicles were designed by Chinese leading truck manufacturer Sinotruk, which was founded in 1935 and started making trucks in 1956, and integrated various technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and internet of vehicles.  

The driverless electric truck HOWO-T5G, equipped with the Beidou Satellite Navigation System, laser radar and millimeter-wave radar, can keep on the road in adverse conditions such as foggy and rainy weather. The vehicle can travel up to 120 kilometers with a full load. 

The driverless technology has also been applied in the field of passenger buses for the first time in Jinan. The unmanned bus can also operate in bad weather and has been equipped with a high-definition camera, laser radar and integrated navigation and positioning. It is expected that the bus will operate in airports, industrial parks and communities. 

Sinotruk is among the first batch of companies in China to gain the license for self-driving road testing. The testing took place at a 4.8 kilometer-long road in Jinan's high-tech zone, which has 5G signal coverage.  A 5G experimental base has been built in the area to help vehicle detection and data transmission and further provides technological supports for 5G technology development in the city. 

Wang Zhonglin, the Party secretary of Jinan, Wang Hongzhi, director of the high-tech district administrative committee and Wang Caidong, general manager of Sinotruk took part in the testing. 

Accordingly, Jinan government will ramp up efforts to promote the city's smart auto industry development, by providing a high-end and high-quality environment. 

Sinotruk will also build an innovation platform for commercial vehicles, train high-tech talents and develop smart vehicle technologies to fuel the development of Jinan's emerging industries and the shift from old growth drivers to new ones.

The autonomous driving truck HOWO-T5G, designed by Sinotruk, is put into trial testing in Jinan's high-tech zone on Jan 22. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]