Driverless monorail line launched in NW China

YINCHUAN, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — A driverless monorail transit system, the first developed in China, was tested on Wednesday in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The system “Yungui” was developed by China’s leading new energy vehicle maker BYD and telecom giant Huawei.

A Yungui train ran on a rail four meters above ground at around 11 a.m. in the regional capital of Yinchuan.

Yungui trains keep safe distances from others, detect malfunctions, monitor passenger flow and use facial recognition, all automatically.

The system is expected to be put into trial commercial operations in the second quarter of this year.

Monorail trains run at a maximum speed of 80 km per hour. Compared with subways, overground monorail costs less and is less noisy