ZTE, Pudong Bus, and Shanghai Telecom build 5G-A intelligent network for smart city maintenance

• The innovative application practice of new urban cloud inspection based on buses, solves the pain points of traditional road maintenance and improves urban governance efficiency
• This solution adopts a "5G + AI cloud-edge-terminal" cooperative architecture to enable the intelligent upgrade of urban traffic and public services

Shanghai, China, November 5, 2025 - ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a global leading provider of information and communication technology solutions, together with Shanghai Pudong New Area Public Transportation Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Teleom, has innovatively completed the application verification of a new type of urban cloud inspection based on buses.

This application adopts the "5G + AI cloud-edge-terminal" three-level intelligent computing system and network agent solution, deepening the integration of 5G with AI, Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. It marks a significant step forward in advancing smart city inspection toward greater intelligence and efficiency.

For years, the traditional manual inspection mode relied upon for the maintenance of urban roads and traffic facilities is entrenched in three major bottlenecks: cost, efficiency and response.

The annual maintenance investment in first-tier cities exceeds 10 million yuan per 10 square kilometers, with labor accounting for 40%; Road inspections require two person-days per kilometers daily and are prone to errors and omissions due to uneven skill levels, making management challenging; The average time from discovery to disposal of hidden dangers is 72 hours, making it difficult to promptly eliminate safety risks.

These inefficiencies not only impact travel safety but also constrain the modernization of urban governance. As such, AI-driven, low-cost, high-efficiency inspection models have become a crucial need for city management innovation.

As a major transportation operator in Pudong, Pudong Bus runs more than 300 bus routes and over 3,600 buses, covering almost the entire Pudong New Area. The huge transportation network provides a natural scenario for the cloud inspection application. In this application verification, Pudong Routes 100 and 798 were selected as model routes. Route 100 connects Lujiazui and Qiantan, serving business and tourist passenger flow. Route 798 covers residential areas in central Pudong and the core area of Lujiazui, meeting commuting needs. By upgrading 5G network capabilities along these routes, an urban cloud inspection "smart brain" has been established simultaneously.

Capacity upgrades have been carried out in system architecture and urban infrastructure, focusing on two cores:

Upgrading capabilities of three-level intelligent computing system architecture

Based on the "cloud-edge-base station" three-level collaboration as the core architectural foundation, a ubiquitous intelligent agent service system has been constructed. Intelligent network elements are deployed on the 5G network terminal and edge sides. Relying on the deep collaboration capabilities of cloud, edge and terminal, the network is promoted to achieve intelligent dynamic matching of supply and demand, a user-centric experience guarantee mechanism is built, and high-reliability deterministic services are provided. Finally, it provides stable and efficient network service support for improving the management efficiency of smart bus cloud inspection and road safety protection.

Urban dual-platform supporting inspection intelligence

An AI management platform has been built to handle functions such as abnormal event reception, data result management and vehicle location management. It uniformly monitors and dispatches the AI inspection system to ensure real-time AI-powered inspection during bus operation. A 3D digital twin visualization platform has been created to build a digital twin base covering road sections, traffic intersections and road assets such as poles, signs, traffic lights, street lights and row trees, forming a "living" model that can reflect real-time dynamic changes of roads, providing intuitive support for inspection monitoring and decision-making.

AI Management Platform Page

3D Digital Twin Visualization Platform

Through verification, the deployment of the three-level intelligent computing scheme in the pilot verification area can simultaneously meet the backhaul of two channels of high-definition video, providing a solid network channel guarantee for the stable cloud migration of massive video data on the vehicle terminal in the future, and ensuring the fluency, real-time performance and security of video transmission.

In the verification section, the video recorded by the bus can effectively detect the damage of urban roads. The inspection cost can be reduced by 40%, and the detection accuracy can reach more than 90%, which effectively improves the overall operation efficiency and data processing capacity of the urban comprehensive inspection platform.

Real-time detection of road surface defects and cracks

This nationwide pioneering urban cloud inspection application verification is an important achievement of the in-depth cooperation between Pudong Bus, Shanghai Telecom and ZTE. It addresses key maintenance challenges while also providing a replicable model for digitizing urban transport and improving governance, ultimately enhancing travel safety and convenience for citizens. In the future, the AI inspection application will continue to inject strong momentum into the intelligent upgrading of urban traffic management and public services, reshaping a new paradigm for urban inspection.