A smart bus runs at the Tongji technology industrial park in Chongchuan district, Nantong. [Photo/WeChat account: chongchuanonline]

A smart bus named "Wei Lai", which means future in Chinese, recently made its debut at the Tongji technology industrial park in Chongchuan district, Nantong, Jiangsu province.

The bus can automatically start, stop, speed up, slow down and turn. When faced with an emergency, it can independently respond accordingly by analyzing the specific situation.

Chongchuan district, a provincial leader in the development of internet of vehicles technology, is expected to build the Tongji technology industrial park into a demonstration area in the field. 

"Wei Lai" is the first L3 unmanned bus to be introduced in the city. Although it is equipped with a steering wheel, it doesn't need anyone to manually operate it. A security guard sits at the driver's seat to deal with coordination work.

Xu Changyong, director of the innovative center of internet of vehicles, said that the smart bus can be used for a wide range of tasks around the industrial park. It can collect information through four modes - satellite, radar, laser and video, and then give orders after carrying out calculations.

The smart bus is now able to handle nine types of situations, which will be increased to about 20 in the future.