BEIJING -- The Beijing municipal government has approved the designation of a demonstration zone for boosting the development of intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs).

According to the blueprint, a planned area of 225 square km in Yizhuang New Town, the Daxing International Airport area, and six highway sections in Yizhuang, Daxing District in southern Beijing will serve as a pilot zone for the initiative.

The pilot zone is the first of its kind in China in terms of testing a series of management policies suitable for ICVs, which involve road testing, demonstration application, commercial operation service and roadside infrastructure construction.

The innovation will also include traffic rules and traffic management of unmanned vehicles on the road.

There are currently 200 public road sections in Beijing open for testing smart vehicles, totaling 699.58 km with the safety test mileage exceeding 2.68 million km in total.

The designation of the pilot zone is expected to help promote new applications, technologies, products and new models of intelligent network connections.