The new economic zone Xiongan will become a test site for testing new technologies, primarily those related to AI. In addition, the "environmentally conscious" city will help relieve the overpopulated Beijing, writes Asia Nikkei. Chinese Internet giant Baidu plans to take an active part in the implementation of the town-planning project, the central place in which will be occupied by the development and use of artificial intelligence systems. This is the new special economic zone Xiongan New Area 100 km south-west of Beijing and 100 km west of Tianjin. The purpose of President Xi Jinping - from scratch to build a new "environmentally conscious" city to relieve the overpopulated metropolitan region. Over time, the new urban development zone will expand from 100 square meters. km up to 2,000 sq. m. km and will be home to 2-2.5 million people.

Baidu has already signed an agreement with the government of Hebei Province, which provides for the transformation of Xiongan New Area into a model of the city with a fundamentally new transport infrastructure. It will include smart public transport and unmanned vehicles, the first tests of which Baidu has already started on city roads last week. In addition, Xiongan will have a laboratory for the development of artificial intelligence.

Original article: Baidu will build an AI city 100 kilometers from Beijing.