Intelligent vehicle contest held in Jiangsu showcasing auto driving technologies

The 2024 China Intelligent Vehicle Future Challenge (IVFC) was held in Changshu City of east China's Jiangsu Province on Saturday, with a total of 76 team from universities, research institutes and enterprises competing with one another by presenting their best auto driving technologies.

This year's competition focused on the fully autonomous driving capabilities of intelligent vehicles in extreme situations within natural traffic scenarios, such as severe weather conditions and unexpected obstacles.

Additionally, the competition simulated the "last mile" scenario for unmanned vehicles, such as navigating unmapped enclosed parking lots, testing their autonomous driving capabilities. These capabilities leveraged breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, including large language models and computer vision models, to deliver seamless, refined and personalized autonomous driving services.

After intense competition, five teams respectively from Shandong University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Zhejiang University and Tongji University shared first place in the Complex Traffic Environment Algorithm Challenge. The team from Xi'an Jiaotong University won first prize in the Real Traffic Environment Challenge.

"The current advancement of artificial intelligence, particularly foundation models, is opening up a new realm of infinite possibilities for the development of autonomous driving technology. Through the competition, not only has technological advancement been promoted, but more importantly, the event has closely integrated competition with industrial innovations and the incubation of those innovations. We aim to elevate China's autonomous driving technology to a new level of development," said Zheng Nanning, member of Chinese Academy of Engineering and chairman of the Intelligent Vehicle Future Challenge.

First held in 2009, the IVFC aims to provide a platform to showcase the latest development and achievement of auto driving technology. It is anticipated to encourage an increasing number of universities and research institutions to engage in autonomous intelligent vehicle studies, boosting China's overall expertise in this cutting-edge technology sector.

Intelligent vehicle contest held in Jiangsu showcasing auto driving technologies

Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa on Saturday arrived in Huizhou City, south China's Guangdong Province to step up bilateral partnership in aquaculture, the pillar industry of the country in the central South Pacific Ocean, and in education.

At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mata'afa is paying an official visit to China from Nov 20 to 28.

Accompanied by a delegation comprising Samoa's finance minister and other foreign affairs and trade officials, Mata'afa landed in Shanghai on Wednesday morning and traveled by high-speed train to the city of Taizhou in east China's Jiangsu Province, where she officially started her nine-day visit.

Aquaculture cooperation tops the prime minister's agenda during her visit to Huizhou. Her delegation visited an innovative marine breeding base to learn about the artificial domestication and large-scale artificial breeding techniques of marine economic fish such as yellow croakers.

"Today, we mainly introduced the situation of modern marine ranches in Guangdong Province to the Samoan delegation. In particular, we provided a preliminary introduction to the fish farming project jointly led by Onesea Marine Ranch and our company in Huizhou City," said Yan Kuoqiu, chairman of Guangdong Beluga Whale Marine Biotechnology.

"We do have coastal fisheries, but we do not have these varieties and species of fish. We want to expand into other varieties, so we are looking for opportunities to have more species of fish in our country to supply protein for our diets," said Seuseu Dr. Joseph Tauati, CEO of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Samoa.

The Samoan prime minister also showed a keen interest in traditional Chinese music and culture during a visit to the Hualuogeng Senior High School, which established a sister-school relationship with Samoa College in 2015. One member of the delegation recalled his exchange experience back in 2018.

"II had the privilege of visiting with the former Prime Minister here in 2018 to see the exchange in programs. It's a great opportunity for our students to come and exchange ideas, knowledge and skills on how to enhance their academic skills and gain new knowledge," said Agafili Tomaimano Shem Leo, CEO of the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet of Samoa.

Samoan PM visits Huizhou to bolster aquaculture cooperation