Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. has signed a basic agreement with a local authority in Suzhou to help develop a new transport system in the eastern Chinese city.

Nissan (China) Investment Co. and the Suzhou High-Speed Rail New Town administration signed a memorandum of understanding Monday under which Nissan will provide support for field testing to speed up intelligent transport initiatives in the Xiangcheng district of the city, located west of Shanghai.

The partnership's joint projects will be overseen mainly by

Alliance Innovation Lab-Shanghai, an autonomous driving research and development arm operating under Nissan (China) Investment, according to Nissan.

Kenju Kobayashi, the lab's global alliance director, said Nissan is "well positioned to take a leading role" to support Suzhou's drive with its experience and expertise in connectivity, autonomous driving, service and vehicle electrification.

Both sides will also explore R&D projects on an intelligent transport model involving autonomous vehicle testing for future commercial services, Nissan said.

Suzhou High-Speed Rail New Town has an area of 28.9 square kilometers and features businesses in such innovative industrial fields as digital finance, industrial internet and blockchain technology, according to the Xiangcheng government.

A test road of more than 63 km opened in the area last year for intelligent connected vehicles. (NNA/Kyodo)

==Kyodo

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