Suzhou has longest driverless bus routes in China

Photo provided by technology company Qcraft shows a driverless bus in the city of Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province on April 18, 2021. (Xinhua)

NANJING, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The city of Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province has the country's longest driverless bus routes, totaling about 15.3 km, local authorities said.

Of late, an operation report on China's first unmanned bus route using 5G technologies was jointly released by the Chinese branch of CB Insights, China Mobile and a Beijing-based technology firm.

In October 2020, China launched its first driverless bus route using 5G network in Suzhou and offered the service free to the city's commuters.

Currently, Suzhou has four driverless bus routes. The city's first unmanned bus route reached a total operating mileage of more than 15,000 km and served more than 11,000 passengers, with an average daily passenger count of about 116, said the report.

Currently, four countries -- China, the United States, Finland and Germany -- are operating unmanned buses on public roads. The total length of such bus routes in China notched up 54.6 km, the longest in the world.

It is estimated that China will increase the number of driverless bus routes to over 60 by 2022, with the total length exceeding 300 km, according to the report.  ■