Flickr: Wilson Hui
In 2012, The Ministry of Transport in China announced a plan to develop an (ITS) Intelligent Transport System to be rolled out across the country by 2020. As the date approaches, Chairman of ITS China, Wu Zhongze, explained in an interview with Xinhua News Agency during the 22ndITS World Congress that China’s investment in ITS is estimated to amount to about 180 billion RMB (30 billion USD) by 2020.
China is a large country immerse in a rapid development process. China is heavily investing in science and technology, two important pillars of its economy. In this sense, Chinese public authorities believe in the potentials of ITS to improve transport network, contribute to climate change mitigation and support economic growth.
As Dr Wu said, with the popularity of the mobile internet and cross-industry integration, intelligent transport service has become an integral part of social production and people’s everyday life, providing strong support for Chinese cities’ huge traffic volumes and operation of transportation infrastructure networks, as well as the transporting of large number of people and trade cargo.
Recent years witnessed the continuous and innovative development of China’s intelligent transportation industry. Intelligent traffic management and operation analysis systems are adopted in metropolis; 461 cities established Intelligent Transport Control Centers with response alarm, information collecting and traffic control functions;404 cities have regional traffic signal control or “green wave” control in primary and secondary road; The national motor vehicle/driver information management system has been established; Public transport IC card systems are connected in the Pearl River Delta and Jiangsu Province; ETC system are adopted in 29 cities, with 7000 ETC lanes and more than 13 million end users; 2000 Chinese ITS companies are involved in software development and system integration in video, security, surveillance, ETC devices.
Moreover, internet-based travel service and industry modes developed quickly. TAXI Apps are used more than 300 cities, with 10,000,000 service orders per day. V2I and smart driving technologies are accelerated into the industry. Important industrial standards were released in 2014. Internet enterprises participate in R&D of intelligent driving technology cooperating with auto-manufacturers.
The vision for the future includes a platform for national electronic charging systems, truly multimodal information and a green, sustainable transport system that will allow people in big cities such as Beijing to see the blue sky every day.
Original source: Xinhua News Agency
