Chongqing - In previous years, rain may have foiled an attempt to hold a competition for autonomous vehicles. Still, the i-VISTA Autonomous Vehicle Grand Challenge that started on September 12th ahead of the 2020 Smart China Expo Online and concluded on Monday continued as planned. With us at the final round of the competition were Lee and Oli Barrett from the Barrett Channel on YouTube as well as Jerry from the This is China YouTube Channel. 

 

Arriving at the Lijia CAERI Industrial Park in the morning, the Youtubers had a chance to interview and talk to some of the experts involved in the competition and see the control room from which the judges scored the cars based on their performance along the 10-kilometer long test track. The YouTubers got a chance to learn more about the technology behind autonomous vehicles and how 5G and smart technology help develop the technology that makes these vehicles a reality.

At the competition site, Lee, Oli, and Jerry, all had a chance to experience first hand what it is like to sit inside of an autonomous vehicle as it drives on a regular road, meeting challenges and obstacles on the way. It is no easy task surrendering yourself to the care of a computer. Although a human driver sits in every autonomous vehicle for safety purposes, the cars managed all of the challenges entirely on their own. Lee and Oli, Jerry, and Alex Absolute, Reporterfy Media, and iChongqing's Xiao and Mikkel joined a live stream from the competition area, sharing their first-hand experience of being in the autonomous cars.

The YouTubers'visit to the Lijia CAERI Industrial Park and the i-VISTA Autonomous Vehicle Grand Challenge concluded with a conversation with a representative from China Telecom, one of the biggest developers of China's 5G infrastructure that has seen rapid deployment since last year.