Secretary for Transport & Logistics Lam Sai-hung, together with 10 members of the Legislative Council Panel on Transport, visited Shanghai today to learn about its development of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and autonomous driving.

The delegation toured Shanghai Baidu's Apollo Park, where they were briefed on the park’s latest developments in autonomous driving, and took a ride in Robotaxis to experience the operation.

Baidu has established an intelligent connected and cloud-based command platform that serves as centres for autonomous driving operation, research and development as well as multi-sensor fusion and calibration to enhance users' awareness and recognition of the autonomous driving market.

The delegation then visited the Shanghai Electric Vehicle Public Data Collecting Monitoring & Research Center, the country's first monitoring platform for promoting the application of NEVs, making use of artificial intelligence technology and a smart algorithm engine to boost the data economy of NEVs.

Afterwards, they toured a smart transport pilot zone and a company specialising in developing smart electric vehicles. The pilot zone utilises new technologies including sensing technology, high definition maps, artificial intelligence and algorithms to manage traffic at junctions.

Mr Lam said that the Transport & Logistics Bureau and the Transport Department are promoting smart mobility and applying technology to manage traffic more effectively, alleviate road congestion and enhance mobility convenience for citizens, so as to maximise the use of limited road space.

The transport chief noted that the Government completed the legislative amendments for autonomous vehicles (AVs) earlier to provide a flexible regulatory framework for further testing and application of AVs in Hong Kong.

He also pointed out that over the past few years, 20 vehicles equipped with autonomous driving systems were tested at 11 different locations in Hong Kong, with some of them equipped with high automation on par with that of the Mainland and the rest of the world.

The Government will continue to facilitate wider trials and application of AVs by the industry in Hong Kong to offer the public an exciting travel experience with AVs, Mr Lam added.