A truck pulls into the Xiong'an North Toll Station, and the driver attempts to pass through using an intelligent toll-collection robot. The screen shows a failed transaction, and after several unsuccessful tries, he presses the yellow "help" button on the machine. Almost simultaneously, a phone rings in the nearby "Smart Cloud Warehouse," where real-time footage of the lane pops up on a computer screen, and a duty officer connects via a remote video system. In less than a minute, the barrier lifts and the vehicle passes smoothly. This is a real scene that recently unfolded at the Xiong'an North Toll Station on the Beijing-Xiong'an Expressway.

From pressing the button to resolving the issue, the entire process takes less than a minute. This level of efficiency is a microcosm of the daily operations on the Hebei section of the Beijing-Xiong'an Expressway (referred to as the Jingxiong Expressway). Stretching 102 kilometers, connecting Beijing's Southwest Fifth Ring Road in the north to the Xiong'an New Area in the south, this major transportation artery has been tasked with serving the relocation of Beijing's non-capital functions and supporting the construction of the "City of the Future" since it opened to traffic in May 2021. So, how does this "smart" road serve the "City of the Future"? The answer lies in three dimensions.

Visible Intelligence: Strengthening Road Safety

Driving toward the Xiong'an North Toll Station, the view is exceptionally wide, with four toll booths arranged in a staggered layout, replacing the previous cramped setup of 14 booths. This sense of "spaciousness" is a vivid reflection of the Jingxiong Expressway's intelligent construction. Last year, the Xiong'an North Toll Station completed its transformation into a "quasi-unnanned toll station," replacing manual windows with intelligent toll-collection robots and a 200-meter pre-transaction system. The pre-transaction system enables ETC vehicles to complete license plate recognition and fee calculation in advance, while LED screens alongside the lanes display traffic status and toll amounts in real time. Drivers barely notice a pause as they glide through.

This same level of "intelligence" extends across every kilometer of the mainline. The smart light poles lining both sides of the road are silent yet reliable partners. According to Qi Yuliang, head of the Electromechanical Management Center, the Jingxiong Expressway is equipped with 3,728 smart lighting poles along its entire route, each fitted with video cameras, road surface detection devices, and weather monitoring equipment. These sensors provide real-time data on road conditions, including weather changes and traffic flow, supporting subsequent intelligent analysis and decision-making. The poles also incorporate LED screens that publish real-time guidance information. "Night driving used to be the scariest part, but the Jingxiong route is fully lit from start to finish, the entire road is bright and clear, and driving at night feels especially reassuring, it's a completely different experience," said a logistics driver who frequently travels between Beijing and Xiong'an.

A Thinking "Brain": Decisions in the Cloud

Smart services are not limited to the front end of the toll lanes but run through the entire back-end control chain. At the Xiong'an North Toll Station, the "quasi-unnanned" operation relies on a powerful and dependable "brain"—the "Smart Cloud Warehouse." Shift supervisor Liang Pengshuai demonstrated the efficient management model of "people in the cloud, responsibility at the post." Monitoring screens display real-time lane data—equipment status, traffic information, and transaction details at a glance. If drivers encounter issues, they simply press the "help" button on the intelligent toll robot to connect with cloud warehouse staff for remote assistance, breaking the traditional "on-site personnel" maintenance model. Since August 2026, the Jingxiong Expressway's new "cloud warehouse duty, remote response" maintenance system has handled 3,729 special situations.

While the "Smart Cloud Warehouse" ensures smooth traffic at expressway entrances and exits, who guards the safety of vehicles on the road? The answer lies in the monitoring hall of the Hebei Expressway Group's Jingxiong Branch. "Xiaolu, Xiaolu, show me all of today's abnormal events," a staff member commands. Instantly, the large monitoring screen displays all abnormal situations on the expressway that day, from event types to occurrence frequencies, all data clear at a glance, allowing duty officers to respond immediately and handle emergencies. "Xiaolu has detected an abnormal stop at K34+300 in the Beijing direction," the Jingxiong large model alerts. The monitoring screen then clearly displays the details of the incident, including the type, location, and real-time surveillance video. "Execute emergency plan No. 1 for the abnormal event," the duty officer issues a voice command, quickly resolving the situation.

All of this relies on the Jingxiong Large Model. According to Sun Jia, leader of the Jingxiong Expressway Innovation Studio, the model is built around two core components—language and vision—focusing on four key scenarios: event detection, emergency response, business interaction, and information dissemination, while expanding into areas such as driver services, equipment linkage, and toll evasion auditing, comprehensively empowering highway maintenance and public travel. "In the past, manual inspection of the entire expressway took about three hours. Now, with the large model, AI cloud inspection plus manual review takes just six minutes, improving efficiency by nearly 30 times and significantly reducing labor costs," said Zheng Ziyue, a staff member of the Electromechanical Management Center and innovation studio member. As of July 2026, the Jingxiong Large Model has reported over 61,000 traffic anomalies, effectively handled more than 1,000 abnormal events, and improved detection accuracy for critical incidents to over 95%.

Warm Services: Guardianship in the Livestream

The "intelligence" of the Jingxiong Expressway extends beyond technology into service scenarios that are closer to public life. Opening the official "Jingxiong Expressway" livestream, the host faces a real-time traffic status screen, answering questions for viewers. Zhu Xintao, deputy manager of the Jingxiong Expressway Command and Dispatch Center, stated that the livestream is staffed by three broadcasters and one director, with two sessions daily—one in the morning and one in the afternoon—plus additional unscheduled broadcasts during severe weather or holidays. Through regular streams and the "Jingxiong Expressway Daily Traffic" video series, the team provides real-time traffic updates, helping drivers know before they go. During this year's Spring Festival travel rush, the livestream team went to the Gu'an West Toll Station plaza for an outdoor broadcast, handing out hot tea, ginger tea, and Spring Festival couplets to passing drivers. A truck driver who had just pulled over took a sip of the hot tea, paused for a moment, and said, "Driving all this way is tiring, this cup of tea and the blessings came at just the right time!" At that moment, the livestream was flooded with well-wishing comments. "We usually answer questions through the screen, rarely seeing drivers' reactions face-to-face. His words made me feel this outdoor broadcast was truly worth it," recalled broadcaster Wang Lin.

Many drivers have developed the habit of checking the livestream before setting out. A driver who regularly commutes between Beijing and Xiong'an said, "Honestly, if I don't check the stream before heading out each day, I feel uneasy. Which section is congested, which exit is closed, whether the fog is heavy—once the stream tells me, I know immediately what time to leave and which route to take. It saves a lot of time." "When roads are smooth, all industries thrive. From the cultural center of Beijing to the City of the Future in Xiong'an, the Jingxiong Expressway has built a 'high-speed road' serving the high-quality construction and development of the Xiong'an New Area and the integration of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," said Lang Airong, deputy party secretary and deputy general manager of the Hebei Expressway Group's Jingxiong Branch. Moving forward, the Jingxiong Branch will fully implement the new development philosophy, focus on technology-driven upgrades, build a smart transportation large-model agent, deepen the integration of the model with operations management and travel services, continuously improve the operational efficiency of the road network across Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and beyond, and better serve all drivers.

Every smooth journey on the Jingxiong Expressway injects powerful momentum into the high-quality development of the Xiong'an New Area. As more intelligent facilities take root in this land, a smarter, more efficient, and warmer "City of the Future" is accelerating toward reality.