55 drivers let go of the wheel as they ride in the largest parade of autonomous cars

By Echo Zhan

Published 14 January 2019

A parade of cars unlike any other has lapped a test track to set a new Guinness World Records title.

A total of 55 self-driving cars built by Changan Automobile set a new record for the Largest parade of autonomous cars at Dianjiang test site, Chongqing, China on 28 November 2018.

Travelling at 30 km/h (18.6 mph), the line of red Changans took 9 minutes 7 seconds to complete the 3.2-km (two-mile distance) which each car separated by no more than two vehicle lengths.

"The drivers who participated in the test had no contact with the autopilot system at all, so we should also build up their confidence in our system in a short period of time to let go [of the controls],” said Yang Guo, autonomous car engineer at Changan Automobile.

For the record attempt, Changan made some alterations to the cars' systems including:

Sensors: Engineers improved the car’s ability detect the boundaries of its lane and the position of the car in front of it. Each vehicle identifies its position correctly to within a few centimetres.
Decision and movement control: For the record attempt the cars drove closer together compared to normal road conditions. This was done by reducing the cars’ object and event detection and response in their dynamic driving task framework from 5% to 1% because of the controlled parade on the quieter test track having fewer variables than normal road conditions.

An engineer involved in the preliminary commissioning said that the most important point in the preparatory phase is to detect some risk factors in advance. Such as the walking of field personnel or the placement of photographic equipment.

"We should identify these risk points in advance and formulate corresponding measures," explained autonomous car engineer Ren Chuanbing.

"The artificial intelligence and new energy of automobiles is a very important trend in the future development of automobiles. As the world's first brand to break this record, we will make more efforts in the field of intelligence,” added Tan Benhong, Changan Automobile's Executive Vice President.

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