The exhibition hall of the Maoming Sea-Land-Air 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) Panoramic Application Experimental Site fascinated guests at the 11th meeting of the Beibu Gulf Organization for Economic Cooperation on Nov 22.

"Traditional tourism just allows people to see scenery and relics from the past, but this project enables tourists to see the future and the life they yearn for," said Dai Bin, dean of the China Tourism Academy, who expressed excitement after visiting the exhibition hall.

In a scene from the exhibition hall, unmanned aerial vehicles and manned automatic electric vehicles fly in the air, houseboats and water buses shuttle in the bay, while sightseeing trains and self-driving cars are busy carrying tourists for sightseeing.

A design sketch for the sea-land-air automatic driving park in the Shuidong Bay. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

The Sea-Land-Air 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) Panoramic Application Experimental Site is located in Shuidong Bay New City of Maoming, and at the junction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, as well as the Hainan Free Trade Port. 

It covers a land area of nearly 3 square kilometers and a water area of about 27 sq km. The semi-enclosed and calm water area here provides an excellent place for the research, development, and testing of sea, land, and air automatic driving equipment.

A greenway that has a length of 47 km has been planned to be constructed around Shuidong Bay, connecting various sea, island, bay, and city areas. The diversified road environment can provide support for the scenario testing, experience, and demonstration of intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs).

In addition, construction of the 5G network covering the ground, water, and airspace in the bay area is progressing.