HEFEI, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- A 5G-covered road for testing self-driving cars was formally opened in Baohe District of Hefei City, east China's Anhui Province Thursday, welcoming the first batch of passengers.

The 4.4-km-long ring road will be open to both self-driving vehicles and ordinary vehicles.

Construction on the road started in August 2019 and since has achieved 5G network coverage, installed road conditions monitoring devices and built a cloud platform control center.

Self-driving cars could realize intelligent driving on this road, and 5G technology has significantly improved the safety of vehicles' operation, according to the construction unit.

Over a dozen Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have been approved to conduct road tests for self-driving vehicles.