A Chinese-made self-driving truck has passed a navigation test, heralding the era of intelligent, automated heavy vehicles that will be rolled out in 2018.

FAW Jiefang, the leading truck manufacturer, unveiled the self-driven truck at FAW Tech Centre in Changchun City, Jilin Province.

The truck was able to recognise obstacles, slow down, make a detour, and speed up.

The truck also reacted correctly to traffic lights, adaptive cruise control, remote commands and successfully overtook, company sources said.

FAW Jiefang now plans to commercialise the intelligent driving vehicle as early as 2018.

Hu Hanjie, FAW Jiefang general manager, said the company has built a whole industry chain partnership to develop, manufacture, sell, and service self-driving trucks. The participation of more firms across the sector will accelerate the technology’s use on heavy-duty vehicles, Hu said.

Leading Chinese tech firms, including Baidu and Tencent, have invested in self-driving entities.