Wuhan's First Unmanned Subway Is Being Debugged and Will Be Put Into Use on Line 5

Another fully automatic driverless subway is born! Following the Guangzhou APM, Beijing Yanfang Line and other subway lines that have achieved driverless operation, Wuhan has welcomed the city’s first driverless subway train, which will soon be put into use on Line 5.

Nowadays, the term driverless is not unfamiliar to many people, but probably not many people have actually used it.

But in the past two years, with the continuous maturity of technology and the improvement of relevant policies, driverless cars have gradually entered our daily lives.

Some time ago, Changsha and Shanghai successively launched driverless taxis.Yesterday, Wuhan launched an unmanned subway, which can automatically complete all functions during the entire operation. The maximum operating speed of the train is 80 kilometers per hour..

The highest level of autonomous driving system, with completely independent intellectual property rights

This train rolled off the production line yesterday at the Wuhan CRRC Changke Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. Industrial Park.It is the first fully automatic driving subway train built in Wuhan.Friends in Wuhan will soon be able to experience it on Line 5.

What are the differences between this newly launched fully automatic unmanned train and traditional subway trains?

  No cab, true driverless 

The train's starting, driving, stopping and inspection are all completed automatically, and there is no traditional train cab.

Although most of the existing subway trains are self-driving, they still have a cab and are human-monitored self-driving trains.Wuhan's driverless subway has no cab and no train driver, so it can be said to be truly driverless.

As we all know, the front of a traditional train, the driver's cab and the passenger compartment are separated. But on this fully automatic unmanned train, this space is completely open, and passengers can experience the thrill of the train moving at full speed through the transparent driver's window at the front of the train, and have a clear view of the tunnel or other landscapes outside the window.

  What to do in case of emergency? 

It is reported that the driver's desk of the unmanned train adopts an electric lifting design. During the operation of the train, passengers cannot see any control buttons; if the train is under maintenance or an emergency occurs,Professional technicians can raise the driver's platform through professional operations to deal with various emergencies.

  What are the technical highlights? 

As the first fully automatic driving project of Wuhan Rail Transit,It adopts the GoA4 (Grade of Automation 4), the highest level of automation in the current international standards, and the most advanced fully automatic driving technology.ToolWith completely independent intellectual property rights.The train has seven driving modes including fully automatic, train automatic, and limited manual driving.

also,The train has functions such as automatic wake-up, automatic operation, automatic return, automatic return to the depot, automatic sleep and remote control.

Compared with conventional subway trains, the vehicles are equipped with derailment and obstacle detection devices, circuit breakers with remote reset functions, train intelligent operation and maintenance systems and other equipment, and redundant designs have been made for key circuits, greatly increasing the complexity of the vehicle's control circuits.

At the same time, a third-party independent safety assessment agency was hired to conduct a safety assessment based on the requirements of fully autonomous driving scenarios and the design of GoA4 level fully autonomous driving functions.

There are 7 unmanned subway lines in China. Have you ever ridden on one?

In fact, China had already put driverless subways into operation as early as 2008. Currently, there are 7 driverless transportation routes in the country. Have you taken any of them?

1. Beijing Airport Express

August 2008:The Capital Airport Line, which opened before the Beijing Olympics, has achieved unmanned driving. Everything from vehicle wake-up to self-inspection procedures, as well as arrival, departure, and return to the depot are completed under the automatic control system, with a maximum operating speed of 110 kilometers per hour.

2. Guangzhou Metro APM Line

November 2010:The Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town Automatic Passenger Transportation System has been put into trial operation. It is the world's first fully underground, unmanned rapid transit system.

The Guangzhou APM Line trains adopt a fully automatic unmanned driving control mode and do not have a separate driver's cab. The line is about 3.94 kilometers long and the maximum operating speed of the vehicles is 60km/h.

3. Shanghai Metro Line 10

August 2014:Shanghai Metro Line 10 has achieved driverless operation. This is the first driverless subway line in China with the highest automation level, GoA4.

In fact, the above three routes are all monitored by drivers and are not truly unmanned. In addition, these unmanned driving technologies come from Canada's Bombardier and Germany's Siemens, and my country needs to spend a high price to purchase their intellectual property rights.

4. Hong Kong South Island Line

Starting from the Hong Kong South Island Line in 2016, my country has achieved independent research and development of fully autonomous driving subways.

December 2016:The East Section of the South Island Line was officially opened on 2017. This line runs through the north and south of Hong Kong Island, with a total length of about 7 kilometers. The South Island Line in Hong Kong is the first line in my country to officially operate a Level 4 fully automated subway vehicle.

The Hong Kong South Island Line 100% was developed by the Chinese company CRRC Changke.It is my country’s first unmanned driving project to enter the Hong Kong market, which has the highest technical requirements in the world.

The train has a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour and can achieve true automatic control, including automatic wake-up, automatic operation, automatic fault diagnosis and automatic cleaning functions.

5. Beijing Subway Yanfang Line

December 2017:Beijing Metro Yanfang Line (the extension of the Fangshan Line from Liangxiang to Yanshan Petrochemical Area and Fangshan Chengguan, etc.) is officially put into operation. It is the smartest subway in Beijing, using driverless technology. It is also the first subway line in mainland my country with completely independent intellectual property rights and fully automatic operation.

The train provider for the Yanfang Line is China CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd.Because it is made in China, it is called "the first batch of unmanned subway trains in mainland China."

According to Beijing's plan, in addition to the Yanfang Line, a new round of rail transit line construction, including Line 3, Line 12, Line 17, Line 19 and the New Airport Line, will all adopt fully automatic operation system technology.

6. Shanghai Metro Line 17

At the end of December 2017: Shanghai Metro Line 17 was opened for operation drills, using a domestically produced signal system with complete independent intellectual property rights, realizing fully automatic driving functions including automatic train operation, automatic door opening and closing, automatic return, automatic entry and exit, self-diagnosis and maintenance.

7. Shanghai APM Pujiang Rail Line

March 2018:Shanghai's first unmanned rubber-tyred rail APM300 line - Shanghai Metro Pujiang Line officially opened for trial operation with an operating speed of 60km/h.

Is the driverless subway more stable than that of an experienced driver?

Nearly 12 years have passed since the first driverless subway in China was put into operation. It has been running smoothly without any major accidents.

According to the operation data of Shanghai Line 10 from 2014 to 2019,Compared with manual driving, the average entry and exit time of fully automatic driving trains is reduced by nearly 50%, the average operating speed is increased by nearly 8%, and the average obstacle-free time is increased by 3.5 times, with obvious advantages.

In foreign countries, the United Kingdom and France have already officially put fully automatic driverless subways into operation. Practice has also proved that driverless subways are more reliable than human drivers. For example, the Paris Metro Line 14, which was put into operation in 1998, has only experienced a few circuit and signal failures in many years of operation.

Alstom executives publicly predicted in 2011 that “the demand for automated subways will grow by 10% per year.It is expected that by 2030, subways in all cities around the world will basically be driverless. "

So, perhaps in the near future, we will all witness an era in which driverless subways are realized around the world.

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