Xiamen-made driverless vehicle road tested in Israel

Astar, a driverless passenger vehicle made by Xiamen-based Golden Dragon Bus Co, passes a sealed road operation test in Israel. [Photo/xmnn.cn]

Astar, a driverless passenger vehicle made by Xiamen-based Golden Dragon Bus Co, was recently road tested in Israel, according to the Xiamen company.

The driverless bus passed a sealed road operation test held at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Exhibition Center.

During the test, both a truck and a private car acted as roadblocks in front of the bus. Thanks to the camera on the bus' rooftop, a radar set at its front and two at both sides of its rear, the bus ran safely along with the two vehicles.

Astar is the first fully-automatic driverless bus to enter Israel.

With a total length of 6.2 meters, Astar has 14 seats capable of carrying up to 19 passengers and can drive 150 kilometers continuously when fully charged.

According to Golden Dragon, Astar is expected to be put into service in the countries' universities, research institutions and enterprises within huge areas.

"I am sure that Astar will be seen in some sealed operation areas in Israel within one year," said Danny Bellilius, CEO of Auto Chen, Golden Dragon's distributor in the country.

As one of the leading players in China's driverless bus industry, Golden Dragon launched its research and development of driverless buses in 2008 and Astar is its second generation product.