(Yicai) Jan. 16 -- Shanghai has released a new action plan aiming to build the eastern metropolis into a leading area for high-level self-driving technology by promoting the mass production and large-scale application of fully autonomous vehicles.

Shanghai strives to start mass producing autos with Level-4 autonomous driving capabilities next year, while vehicles with L2 driver assistance and L3 conditional self-driving functions will account for more than 90 percent of new car production, according to the plan jointly released by the Municipal Economic and Information Commission, the Transportation Commission, and the Public Security Bureau on Jan. 14.

Shanghai will apply L4 self-driving tech on a large scale in public transportation and freight logistics, with robobuses and robotaxis to serve more than six million passengers and unmanned heavy trucks to move more than 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.

In addition, Shanghai will expand the open area of autonomous driving in an orderly manner to 2,000 square kilometers, exceeding 5,000 kilometers in total length and connecting Hongqiao Transportation Hub, Pudong International Airport, Disney Resort, and other key locations.

Shanghai became the first city in China to launch closed testing for autonomous driving vehicles in 2016. As of the end of last year, it has opened 3,173 roads with a total length of over 5,200 km for self-driving testing, covering about a third of the city, according to official data.

China is also actively promoting the mass production and application of high-level autonomous driving tech at the central government level.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the first open road permits to self-driving vehicles last month, allowing Changan Automobile's Deepal SL03 and BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology's Arcfox Alpha S to use their L3 self-driving functions in congested traffic conditions without changing lanes on highways and urban expressways in Beijing and Chongqing.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev