A fully automated charging and operations center for autonomous vehicles began operation in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Friday, marking a new step toward unmanned and intelligent charging for autonomous vehicles, operators said.

Named Tide Island, the facility allows autonomous vehicles to complete the entire charging process without human intervention. When a vehicle detects a low battery level, it can automatically plan a route back to the hub, park in a designated space, and recharge on its own.

Located in Chengyang district of Qingdao, the three-story smart charging hub has 100 parking spaces and integrates photovoltaic power generation with ultra-fast charging technology.

The facility is equipped with one automated parking robot, 100 automated charging robots and an AI-powered operating system, with a total installed capacity of 5 megawatts, Mu Xiaopeng, vice-president and chief scientist of TELD, a Qingdao-based charging network provider and one of the project's operators, said.

Each vehicle can charge at up to 250 kilowatts, reaching full capacity in about 20 minutes, effectively addressing both charging speed and parking challenges, Mu said.

The new system can improve the operational efficiency of autonomous vehicles by about 30 percent while reducing electricity costs by a similar margin, he added.

In addition to the main charging hubs, TELD plans to upgrade its existing network of more than 70,000 public charging stations into "Relay Islands" to support autonomous vehicle operations. One Tide Island, combined with 10 Relay Islands, can support the efficient operation of more than 1,000 autonomous vehicles at the same time.

Liu Yunfei, another vice-president of TELD, said the company plans to build 300 Tide Islands and 3,000 Relay Islands across 100 cities in China over the next three years, deploying 50,000 AI-powered robots to serve 300,000 autonomous vehicles.

The company also plans to build 30 Tide Islands in 10 overseas cities as part of its global expansion strategy, she added.