East China's Shandong province will promote the construction of intelligent transportation this year, according to the Shandong Provincial Department of Transportation.

Intelligent transportation refers to the use of sensing, analysis, control and communication technologies in ground transportation in order to improve safety, mobility and efficiency.

It includes a wide range of applications that process and share information to ease congestion, improve traffic management, minimize environmental impact and increase the benefits of transportation to commercial users and the public in general.

Transport infrastructure, comprehensive transport services and industry governance will be the main three areas to benefit from the new technology, local authorities said.

Si Jiajun, deputy director of Shandong Provincial Department of Transport, said that in recent years the province has been promoting the application of intelligent systems in highways, ports and urban transportation.

The province has set up a comprehensive transportation supervision system as well as a big data statistical analysis and monitoring system, which have laid a solid foundation for the development of intelligent transportation, Si said.

This year, Shandong will speed up the intelligent upgrading of expressways. Construction on two smart high-speed demonstration projects will be accelerated.

In addition, Shandong will build a laboratory for intelligent transportation relying on its test base for unmanned cars and the integration of superior resources.

After learning how best to apply new technologies such as autonomous driving and vehicle-to-road coordination, Shandong will announce a series of research achievements and promote their industrial application.