A smart line ensuring bus priority by controlling the duration of traffic lights opened recently in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province in central China.

The 15-km line 315, with 10 buses and 28 stations, has 24 intersections along the way, Xu Hu, senior director of the Changsha Intelligent Driving Institute and chief engineer of the smart bus line project said.

With the help of vehicle-road coordination technology, engineers have established a system which can obtain real-time accurate data of buses on line 315, including location, driving speed and the number of passengers, when they approach an intersection, Xu said.

According to Xu, the system could then interact with the traffic light control system and adjust the duration of the signal lights with a multi-dimensional mechanism, to ensure bus priority.

In April, Changsha launched a plan to accelerate the integrated development of smart cars and smart cities, according to which the city is expected to conduct intelligent and networked transformation of more than 7,400 buses within three years.