On June 2, 2017 (May 8, 2017 in the lunar calendar), China successfully developed the world's first "trackless train." Trams, as a type of rail transit, are relatively common in cities, but if one day, an electric train is driving in a city without tracks and is still classified as a type of rail transit, what a scene will it be like? The world's first intelligent rail train. On June 2, 2017, CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CRRC China (hereinafter referred to as CRRC Zhuzhou Institute) developed an "Intelligent Track Express System"(Autonomous RailRapidTransit-ART)"(hereinafter referred to as" Smart Rail ") made its debut in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province. This new type of transportation that combines the respective advantages of modern trams and buses belongs to a cross-border work. It subverts people's traditional understanding of urban transportation and brings new choices and experiences to solve travel difficulties in large and medium-sized cities. From rails to trackless, only tracks have disappeared, but the advanced technology applied in smart rails is far from comparable to the simple electric propulsion technology of streetcars. "It is generally understood that compared with traditional trams, smart trams without tracks are more intelligent after absorbing advanced technologies in other industries, including automobiles, such as image recognition, dynamic image stitching and sensor fusion. Technology ensures vehicle safety, and for example, the final stage of smart rails is to achieve driverless driving." said an engineer from CRRC Zhuzhou Institute. What is a smart track? Statistics show that from 2007 to 2015, the number of cars in China increased nearly threefold, while the area of roads only increased by 60%. This prominent contradiction has made urban congestion a prominent problem. According to the requirements of the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Urban Public Transport" announced by the Ministry of Communications, by 2020, China will build 6000 kilometers of trams, but this figure will only reach 178 kilometers by the end of 2016. Feng Jianghua, deputy general manager and chief engineer of CRRC Zhuzhou, believes that the reason for the slow development of urban rail transit is that the overall layout of the city is constantly iteratively updated and developing. For a rail transit, it must be implemented in such a rapidly developing urban structure is a great challenge and difficulty, so this restricts the pace of development of rail transit to a certain extent. "Coupled with the shortcomings of long construction cycle, high investment costs, and poor flexibility, many cities are unable to continue when facing disadvantages. This is the product of Intelligent Rail." Feng Jianghua said. According to reports, the intelligent track express train is ART's vehicle. It is an innovative modern urban low-floor tram independently developed by CRRC Zhuzhou. Compared with modern trams, the car uses rubber-wheel bearing instead of traditional steel-wheel rails, so there is no need to lay a proprietary physical track. Through the world's unique trajectory following control technology independently developed by the company, the vehicle is controlled. Intelligent guidance on the virtual track, while relying on specific signal control technology to restrict the train traveling on the virtual track, improving safety. Intelligent track express trains adopt trajectory following, low floor and efficient electric transmission technology, which combines the characteristics of trams that are pollution-free, fast and large capacity. They also absorb the advantages of traditional buses such as flexible operation and small construction investment; they have advantages such as comprehensive transportation capacity and short construction period. In addition, low cost has also become one of the biggest advantages of this vehicle. Data shows that the cost of subway in my country is about 400 million-700 million yuan/kilometer, and the cost of modern tram lines is about 150 million-200 million yuan/kilometer."Smart Rail" With the same capacity as modern tram cars, it can be put into use with simple road renovation, and the investment in the overall line is about 1/5 of that of modern tram cars. In other words, compared with modern trams, building a 10-kilometer line can save at least 1 billion yuan for the "smart rail". CRRC Zhuzhou Research Institute started research on the ART system in 2013. The intelligent track express train displayed in the launch is a three-section formation with a length of 31.64 meters, a width of 2.65 meters and a height of 3.4 meters. The train can travel in both directions, with a maximum passenger capacity of 307 people, a full load weight of 48 tons, and a maximum operating speed of 70 kilometers/hour; the vehicle adopts a low-floor structure (less than 330mm) to facilitate passengers getting on and off the train. Intelligent track express trains are powered by power batteries and use fast-charging lithium titanate batteries. The total power distribution degree is 170 degrees, and the power consumption under full-load conditions is 4 degrees/kilometer. They have the ability to travel more than 40 kilometers. Charging in 10 minutes, you can have a full battery life of 25 kilometers. The cab of the world's first intelligent rail train. The cab of the world's first intelligent rail train. The cab of the world's first intelligent rail train. The paper reporter, which uses a number of international advanced technologies, saw this intelligent rail train with a length of more than 30 meters at the press conference that day. If it were on the road, it would definitely be a "giant", but it was a flexible "fat". During the test ride, the reporter did not feel any noise in the vehicle. When driving to the corner, the vehicle bent even less than the bus. In addition, the intelligence of the car is also reflected everywhere in the cab. There is an external camera above the driver's head. The camera monitors the road conditions at any time, and the instructions issued after the monitored information is transmitted to the vehicle's central processor can deal with heavier road conditions. Compared with traditional trams, smart rails have the advantages of flexibility and controllability, energy conservation and environmental protection, large traffic volume, low cost, and strong adaptability, but all of these are based on the powerful core technology of smart rails. According to Feng Jianghua, the "virtual track following control" technology independently developed by the innovation team of CRRC Zhuzhou. Simply put, it identifies the virtual track line on the road through various on-board sensors, transmits the operation information to the train's "brain"(central control unit), and according to the instructions of the "brain", ensures that the train achieves normal traction, braking, steering, etc. At the same time, it can accurately control the train to travel on the established "virtual trajectory" to achieve intelligent operation. In addition to this core technology, Smart Rail adopts a total of 8 core technologies to support its advantages. For example, active safety technology,"through image recognition, dynamic image stitching and sensor fusion, we have achieved the constraints of the vehicle itself under the non-physical track, and also provided security protection against surrounding intrusions," Feng Jianghua said. Another example is off-grid power supply technology. Feng Jianghua said that we know that if the power supply network of any vehicle is increased, it will increase investment costs and operation and maintenance costs. Here we have adopted energy storage technology. This energy storage system can be customized according to the needs of the actual operating lines and the overall indicators of the vehicle. When our vehicles are running in the city, due to the reduction of infrastructure, the entire transportation system can be well integrated into the city. Feng Jianghua also said that smart rail will continue to graft some more advanced technologies, including autonomous driving, big data and non-physical contact wireless communication and control-related technologies, making our train equipment more advanced, safer, and more Comfortable and faster. The world's first ART line settled in Zhuzhou On the day the world's first virtual train was released, the main leaders of Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, where CRRC Zhuzhou is located, announced that Zhuzhou City would start building the world's first ART line. According to Yang Weiguo, mayor of Zhuzhou City, Changjiang Road, Zhuzhou's main road in Hexi, will take the lead in building the country and the world's first intelligent track express system. After passing the acceptance by relevant national departments, it will serve as a demonstration operation line to serve the vast number of Zhuzhou citizens. According to reports, the planned total length of the line is about 6.5 kilometers. After completion, it will be seamlessly connected with the planned medium and low-speed maglev line.