BYD rolled out its 5 millionth new energy vehicle in Pingshan in August, 2023. Photo by Ren Xianping

The new energy and intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) industry is one of the three leading industries in Pingshan. Relying on the national-level new energy automobile base, Pingshan focuses on key areas such as autonomous driving and intelligent connectivity. In 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce proposed to support Pingshan to build a national-level ICV test zone, a product quality inspection and testing center and an Internet of Vehicles pilot zone. Test and inspection reports are mutually recognized within national platforms, to promote the integration and development of new energy and ICVs, and to form an industrial agglomeration effect, with the scale of the industry growing continuously.

1. Output value

Pingshan is home to more than 300 whole-vehicle and car part manufacturing, autonomous driving and new energy vehicle (NEV) companies, such as BYD and Skywell New Energy, CATARC, CAERI, Ampron, AutoX, DiPi Intelligent Mobility, Neolix, NavInfo and CiDi. Pingshan also hosts platforms such as the Shenzhen Automotive Research Institute of Beijing Institute of Technology, Shenzhen Future Intelligent Network Transportation System Industry Innovation Center and the Shenzhen Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry Association.

AutoX robotaxis run in Pingshan. Photo courtesy of AutoX

In Pingshan, the number of ICV enterprises with annual main business revenue of at least 200 million yuan has increased from 22 in 2017 to more than 100 currently. In 2022, the output value of ICVs in Pingshan exceeded 155.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 141.5%. The added value of ICVs in Pingshan amounted to 25.52 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for nearly half of the city’s total. In the first half of 2023, the output value of the ICV industry in Pingshan exceeded 108.4 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 116%.

As one of the city’s few regions with a complete NEV industrial chain, Pingshan has advantages in the new-energy storage development. A new-energy storage industry cluster led by FinDreams Battery, Capchem, Katop, Haoneng and Hailei and a complete industry chain of battery materials, batteries, battery production equipment and charging equipment have been formed. Pingshan is laying out the next-generation industry 4.0-level solid-state lithium-ion batteries industry chain development. In 2022, the number of energy storage enterprises with annual main business revenue of at least 200 million yuan reached 61 in Pingshan, with a total revenue of 31.38 billion yuan.

The BYD headquarters in Pingshan District.

2. Innovative platforms 

Pingshan currently has one provincial-level innovation alliance: the Greater Bay Area Automobile Technology Association; two municipal-level platforms: the Shenzhen Future Intelligent Network Transportation System Industry Innovation Center, and Shenzhen Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry Association; one incubator: the Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry Service Center; and five professional organizations: the Shenzhen Automotive Research Institute of Beijing Institute of Technology, CATARC Technology Co. Ltd., CAERI Shenzhen Technology Co. Ltd., BYD Toyota EV Technology Co. Ltd. and the Yupeng New Energy Vehicle Test and Research Co. Ltd.

3. Infrastructure 

Pingshan is constructing the GBA’s only closed test site for ICVs. With a total investment of 800 million yuan, the site, located in Shijing Subdistrict, covers an area of 645 mu (43 hectares). The site focuses on cutting-edge ICV technologies, providing testing venues and equipment services, as well as providing guarantees for Shenzhen ICV operation access and license testing in the city, Pingshan’s whole-region ICV openness management, and major industry activities. Based in Shenzhen and serving Hong Kong and Macao, it provides strong support for the construction of smart cities in Hong Kong and Macao, providing strong support for the integrated development of the automotive industry cluster in the GBA.

The test site is divided into six major areas: a high-speed test area, advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) test area, urban test area, flexible test area, ramp test area and urban parking test area. The six areas give full consideration to the needs of automobile enterprises’ independent R&D, meeting requirements for going abroad and obtaining ICV operation access in Shenzhen, as well as combining the Hong Kong and Macao traffic scenarios. At the same time, the V2X (vehicle-to-everything) test elements are also considered.

Shenzhen Intelligent Connected Traffic Test Demonstration Zone in Pingshan.

Pingshan is covered with 5G infrastructure. To accelerate the vehicle-to-everything, 5G, Beidou and other industrial technological innovations and applications, Pingshan is the first in the city to carry out the vehicle-road-cloud network construction throughout an entire district, integrating 143 key road intersections (points) with intelligent connectivity in the district, to create a leading intelligent networking environment in the country.

4. Industrial policies, fund

In December 2020, Pingshan District rolled out the city’s first district-level supportive policies for ICV development. By supporting enterprises’ settlement, testing, rental, R&D and production, the policies help enterprises in innovation and development. At present, due to new changes in the industry and new demands of enterprises, the policies are being further revised and improved. Additionally, the Implementation Measures for the Training, Introduction and Management of Talents in the NEV and ICV Industry in Pingshan was implemented Nov. 10, 2022.

The Shenzhen NEV industrial fund, with 5 billion yuan in the first phase, was launched in Pingshan on Sept. 26, 2023 to further support the city’s NEV and ICV industrial development.

5. Industrial spaces 

As of 2027, there will be 11 new land projects for the new energy and ICV industry in Pingshan, with an estimated new floor area of 2.49 million square meters. Among them, the Pingshan New Energy Automobile Industrial Park is located at the junction of Shenzhen and Huizhou, bounded by Nanping Boulevard in the south, Lyuzi Boulevard, Lyuyin Road and Maluan North Road in the west, and the Shenzhen-Huizhou Border Line in the north. It covers an area of about 70,800 square meters, with a total construction area of about 513,000 square meters. Six buildings are planned to provide 320,800 square meters of industrial space.

Shenzhen Intelligent Connected Traffic Test Demonstration Zone in Pingshan.

6. Demonstration 

Pingshan has opened its whole region for ICV enterprises to explore multiple application scenarios, including the constructing of a large-scale testing and commercial application environment for diverse scenarios such as manned transportation, logistics, and environmental sanitation, forming a highly collaborative development system of “human-vehicle-road-cloud.” Pingshan has carried out commercial demonstrations in autonomous driving buses and taxis, to enable 100 driverless robotaxis and 100 intelligent connected buses to be put into operation in the district by the end of 2013.

Pingshan has attracted more than 10 companies including Baidu, AutoX and Meituan to carry out demonstrations in multiple scenarios and has been gradually exploring commercialization applications. The district has opened more than 10 demonstration routes for driverless buses, minibuses, robotaxis, delivery vehicles and retail store delivery. As of August 2023, the total operating mileage has exceeded 700,000 kilometers, which provides rich practical experience for managing ICVs in Pingshan.

Intelligent connected vehicles in Pingshan.

7. Whole-region openness 

Pingshan took the lead in the city in proposing the opening of the whole region for ICVs. In June 2022, Shenzhen released China’s first regulation for managing ICVs, providing specific provisions on access registration, road use, transportation and operation, traffic accidents and safety supervision, which has received wide attention in the industry. Supporting the whole-region open management, Pingshan issued China’s first district-level regulation regarding whole-region openness for ICVs on Dec. 30, 2022.

As of 2023, Pingshan has issued a total of 202 ICV road test, demonstration and commercial pilot licenses to Apollo Go, AutoX, Meituan, Neolix and Rino.ai. As of September 2023, the total number of commercial pilot orders reached 29,000 orders and the cumulative mileage of operation exceeded 540,000 kilometers.