On July 3rd, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, and the Ministry of Transport (hereinafter referred to as the five departments) announced the list of pilot cities for the "vehicle road cloud integration" application of intelligent connected vehicles. The Daily Economic News reporter noticed that the pilot cities include 20 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Ordos, Shenyang, Changchun, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc. The relevant person in charge of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated in the Q&A on the pilot work of the "Vehicle Road Cloud Integration" application for intelligent connected vehicles that the implementation of this application pilot is expected to achieve the construction of a low latency and high reliability network connected cloud control infrastructure, promote the large-scale application of multi scenario autonomous driving, explore the formation of a new business model for "Vehicle Road Cloud Integration" investment and operation, and form a unified standard and testing evaluation system. The pilot cities have three common characteristics: "The 'Vehicle Road Cloud Integration' of intelligent connected vehicles is an integrated control system that uses new generation information and communication technology to connect the physical layer, information layer, and application layer of people, vehicles, roads, and clouds into one, for integrated perception, decision-making, and control. It can achieve comprehensive improvement in vehicle and traffic operation safety, efficiency, and other performance," said Zhang Yejia, General Manager of the Automotive Industry Research Center, a consultant at CCID, in a WeChat interview with the Daily Economic News reporter. The determination of pilot cities has gone through the process of application and selection. In the Q&A on the application pilot work, it was mentioned that the application pilot work is voluntarily applied by cities as the main body. Cities that are willing to participate in the application pilot work should prepare the application form in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Notice on Carrying out the "Vehicle Road Cloud Integration" Application Pilot of Intelligent Connected Vehicles. The provincial industrial and information technology competent department, together with the public security, natural resources, housing and urban-rural construction, and transportation competent departments, should review it, jointly issue written recommendation opinions, and submit relevant materials to the five departments. Five departments jointly formed a special team to organize the preparation of the "Management Measures for the Pilot Review of the" Vehicle Road Cloud Integration "Application of Intelligent Connected Vehicles". Based on this, pilot review work was carried out, mainly including material form review, expert meeting review, on-site defense review, and other links. Zhang Yejia said, "Based on the" 2023 Intelligent Connected Vehicle Development Index (City Chapter) "database released by our center last year, the pilot cities announced this time have three common characteristics. Specifically, the cities where intelligent connected vehicles are located under the" vehicle road cloud integration "technology route need to have relatively complete transportation infrastructure and communication facilities to meet the needs of intelligent connected vehicles for roadside perception, communication and other infrastructure.". Secondly, cities have a significant influence and radiation in the field of intelligent connected vehicles. After successful pilot projects, significant demonstration effects can be formed, driving the development of intelligent connected vehicles in surrounding areas and even across the country. Thirdly, there is an urgent demand for the application of intelligent connected vehicles in urban areas such as traffic management, public transportation, and logistics transportation. Through pilot projects, the feasibility of the technology can be verified and practical applications can be promoted. As mentioned in the Q&A on the application pilot work, there are currently 17 national level intelligent connected vehicle testing areas, 7 vehicle networking pilot areas, and 16 "dual intelligence" pilot cities built nationwide. More than 32000 kilometers of testing roads have been opened, over 7700 testing licenses have been issued, and the testing mileage has exceeded 120 million kilometers. More than 8700 sets of intelligent roadside units (RSUs) have been deployed in various regions, and cloud control basic platform construction has been carried out in many places. However, the construction of "vehicle road cloud integration" in various regions is still in its early stages, and a complete system architecture has not yet been established. There is a phenomenon of "fragmentation" in infrastructure construction, which makes it difficult to support the large-scale application of autonomous driving technology and network connectivity functions. The pilot application of "vehicle road cloud integration" for intelligent connected vehicles will fully leverage the construction foundation of pilot work such as the early testing area, vehicle networking pilot area, and "dual intelligence" pilot, and promote the landing and large-scale application of "vehicle road cloud integration" technology for intelligent connected vehicles. In the Q&A on the pilot application work, it was also mentioned that there are four expected achievements in carrying out this pilot application, namely building a low latency and high reliability networked cloud control infrastructure, promoting the large-scale application of multi scenario autonomous driving, exploring the formation of a new commercial model for "vehicle road cloud integration" investment and operation, and forming a unified standard and testing evaluation system. Among them, in promoting the large-scale application of multi scenario autonomous driving, the Q&A of the application pilot work proposed to combine the needs of smart cities, intelligent transportation, industrial development, etc., and carry out large-scale application pilot projects for smart buses, smart passenger cars, automatic parking, urban logistics, automatic distribution, and other scenarios according to local conditions, continuously meeting the growing mobile travel needs of the public and the vehicle operation needs of different commercial scenarios, comprehensively improving the level of urban traffic safety and travel efficiency. In exploring the formation of a new business model for investment, construction, and operation of "vehicle road cloud integration", it is mentioned to clarify the pilot commercial operation entities of "vehicle road cloud integration" for intelligent connected vehicles, encourage the exploration of a development model of joint investment, construction, and operation by multiple entities such as state-owned platforms, automobile enterprises, operators, and technology companies, and explore the formation of a new business model that integrates and coexists, divides labor and cooperation, and shares benefits. In Zhang Yejia's view, the release of the list of pilot cities will help accelerate the transition of China's vehicle road cloud collaborative development route from the exploratory and experimental stage to the application pilot stage. At the same time, pilot projects can also provide reference and replicable experiences and models for the development of intelligent connected vehicles in other cities, further expanding the application scope and influence of intelligent connected vehicles in China. This will help promote the landing and large-scale application of intelligent connected vehicle technology in China, improve road traffic safety and travel efficiency, and explore the formation of a new business model for "vehicle road cloud integration" investment, construction, and operation. (Lai Xin She)