Driverless vehicle jointly developed by SZ, HK receive official license

Writer: Zhang Yu  |  Editor: Zhang Chanwen  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2022-09-05

The Hercules low-speed driverless logistics vehicle jointly developed by Shenzhen Unity-Drive Innovation Technology Co. Ltd. (UDI) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)’s Intelligent Autonomous Driving Center received Hong Kong’s first official license for fully driverless vehicles, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported Saturday.

Hong Kong’s Transport Department issued the license after the vehicle had undergone 22 months of high-standard professional testing in three stages.

The licensed Hercules low-speed driverless logistics vehicle is seen. The official website of UDI

The unmanned vehicle is reported to independently complete all high-precision mapping, environment perception and route planning, and it is also equipped with a cloud dispatching system to truly realize autonomous driving.

Up to now, the vehicle has obtained a total of five phased vehicle driving permits, and successfully completed 94 test tasks in 595 hours.

According to UDI, Hong Kong is very strict about unmanned vehicles hitting the roads and road tests are a prerequisite for the evolution of autonomous driving technologies and product approvals.

In addition to achieving phased results in Hong Kong, the Hercules vehicle has been widely put into use in more cities on the mainland.

Since 2018, UDI has started testing driverless vehicles on the roads and operated them in industrial parks for over three years. So far, the company’s unmanned vehicles have run over 100,000 kilometers, according to the Daily report.