Chinese company testing 1,080-meter-long ‘intelligent highway’ in Jinan city

In a notable move which can potentially accelerate the transformation of the global transportation industry, China is testing an ‘intelligent highway’ built by Qilu Transportation Development Group Co. The intelligent highway test project will check viability of highway that can generate electricity with solar panels and charge electric vehicles in future.
The ‘intelligent highway’ is basically a ‘smart road’ built in eastern-China city of Jinan. The length of the road is 1,080 meters; and it is built with transparent concrete which comprises of technologies -- solar panels, mapping sensors and electric-battery rechargers -- embedded underneath.
According to the details shared by Qilu Transportation, the ‘intelligent highway’ stretch of road caters to traffic of 45,000 vehicles every day. The solar panels embedded inside the road are spread across two lanes, and can generate electricity sufficient for powering the highway lights as well as 800 homes.
Further revealing that the ‘intelligent highway’ has three vertical layers, Qilu Transportation said that sunlight can reach the solar panels via the shell of the transparent material used for building the road. In the top layer, recharging wires and sensors can be threaded for the purpose of monitoring traffic flow, weight load, and temperature.
With reference to the ‘intelligent highway,’ Qilu Transportation’s General Manager Zhou Yong said that the existing highways are like “the 1.0-generation product” which can only carry the vehicles that pass by; and added: “We’re working on the 2.0 and 3.0 generations by transplanting brains and a nervous system.”
The concept is interesting and futuristic. However, it has to be seen if it can be financially viable. Many futuristic concepts fail due to inability to offer financially viable alternative to existing technologies.
- 674 reads
Popular Stories

In a recent announcement, petroleum company BP has revealed that a new energy storage system for its Titan 1 wind energy power plant in South Dakota, US, will be built and supplied by Tesla.

At the 2018 Auto China event being held in Beijing this week, German automaker Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a plush new Mercedes-Maybach all-electric SUV concept --- ‘The Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury.’

Japanese automaker Nissan unveiled a new LEAF-based electric car -- the ‘Sylphy Zero Emission’ -- at the 2018 Auto China show in Beijing.

In a recent announcement, the eRoadArlanda consortium has revealed that it has opened an electric car charging road which it has developed in Sweden.

In an April 19 blog post on Medium, ride-hailing company Lyft has announced that it plans to make its worldwide operation “carbon neutral” by purchasing enough carbon credits.