Autonomous driving buses are seen on a street in Yangquan, north China's Shanxi Province, Feb. 27, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Zhihao)

Taking an autonomous driving bus has now become a habit for a resident surnamed Yue in the city of Yangquan, north China's Shanxi Province. This habit has developed despite her initial concerns about the safety of such a vehicle.

Tucked away in the Taihang Mountains, the smallest city in Shanxi has embraced various types of autonomous driving transportation tools, including buses, taxis and logistics vehicles.

Autonomous driving technology, an outstanding achievement in the field of artificial intelligence, is rapidly changing China's transportation landscape, with frequent technological breakthroughs and increasing application scenarios.

The complex landscape of Yangquan, featuring the likes of mountains, hills and basins, provides diverse application test scenarios for autonomous driving technology.

According to Wang Yifei from the city's statistics bureau, Yangquan has already attracted many enterprises involved in the fields of autonomous driving solutions, travel service platforms and low-speed unmanned vehicle operations.

"Currently, we have implemented autonomous driving technology in various scenarios in Yangquan, such as taxi services, courier deliveries and security patrols, providing convenient and safe travel services and effectively improving logistics efficiency and reducing operating costs," said Shi Qinjun, project operations manager with the Vehicle-city Network of Yangquan Digital Technology Group.

"Meanwhile, we are actively expanding data resources to build smart transportation and a smart city," Shi added.

China's State Council and ministries have over the years issued policies to strengthen research and development concerning intelligent connected vehicles, promote their industrialization, and accelerate commercial application of autonomous driving technology in specific scenarios.

Various regions in China have since actively conducted autonomous driving road tests, while demonstration zones have been set up in cities like Beijing, south China's Shenzhen and central China's Wuhan, achieving significant results.

As of November 2024, more than 50 cities in China had approved similar projects -- achieving a combined 32,000 kilometers of open test roads and the intelligent road transformation of approximately 10,000 kilometers.

According to the Yangquan city government, the application of autonomous driving technology has not only brought economic and social benefits to the city but also provided new ideas and methods for urban governance.

By building a vehicle-road coordination system, Yangquan can achieve real-time monitoring and intelligent regulation of traffic conditions, effectively alleviating traffic congestion and improving road safety.

At the same time, autonomous driving technology can be integrated with the urban management platform, providing data support and decision-making assistance for urban management.

"In the future, Yangquan will actively explore the application of autonomous driving technology in more scenarios, such as smart sanitation and smart security, to provide citizens with more intelligent and convenient urban services," said Wang.