Autonomous vehicles charting new path

A quiet revolution is unfolding on the streets of Jinan, the capital city of East China’s Shandong province. Ding Pingshun, a bus driver for 22 years, could be seen sitting in the back corner of a vehicle, holding a tablet instead of gripping a steering wheel. “It feels quite peculiar to shift from being a driver of manned buses to a safety officer for autonomous ones,” Ding said, as the self-driving bus glided along Huanghe Avenue in Jinan’s autonomous driving demonstration area. This bus, part of a pilot program by Jinan Public Transport Group, has been undergoing tests on a 6.4-kilometer route since June this year. The route includes traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and requires complex maneuvers like U-turns and lane changes. An onboard system displays real-time alerts, highlighting nearby objects in varying colors based on proximity.

https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202511/18/WS691bcfc3a310d6866eb2a084.html