Audi Granted Level 4 Autonomous Driving Road Test License in China

At a forum for intelligent transportation and the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), Audi China received a Level 4 autonomous driving road test license in the city of Wuxi on Sept. 14. The test will take place at an autonomous vehicle testing facility in the Chinese city the same day.

SEE ALSO: BMW Becomes the First International Automaker to Receive Self-Driving Road Test License in China

Audi China’s license is granted by the Jiangsu Province in Eastern China where Wuxi is located. The official name of the testing facility in Wuxi is titled “National Intelligent Transportation Comprehensive Test Base Autonomous Driving Public Road Test Environment”. The testing facility has test roads that span distances as long as 3.53 kilometers and offer 150 different testing scenarios.

“As a smart city of the future, Wuxi has provided us with the best road testing conditions,” says Saad Metz, Audi China’s executive vice president of R&D.

Audi China is expected to set up a R&D center in Wuxi in the first quarter of 2019 staffed with 150 employees to support the autonomous driving and IoV testings. Audi has been running the LTE-V test for IoV in Wuxi since last year 2017. The company will continue to work with its partners including Huawei, China Mobile, and Wuxi traffic police to test 15 different types of IoV features, laying down the foundation for further R&D in the future.

Audi is the third international car manufacturer to have been granted road test licenses in mainland China. BMW won the race by receiving approvals to test its vehicles at the Shanghai International Automobile City in May, and Daimler AG followed suite by receiving the green lights from Beijing in July.

SAIC Motor, a state-owned automobile manufacturer, was also granted the road test license on the same day.