--- title: "How Do You Ride a Driverless Car in Shanghai?" description: "Shanghai’s autonomous vehicles operate on open test roads, primarily in Pudong and Jiading, rather than on closed circuits. Pair your visit with the 52nd or 118th floors of the Shanghai Tower. Book an afternoon itinerary with a guide." type: "guide" published: "2026-09-28T00:00:00" updated: "2026-09-28T01:00:47.688030Z" reading_minutes: 4 word_count: 1208 tags: [] related_route_ids: ["route_draft_78081a63a442", "route_draft_379346779d53", "route_draft_2b0a983d84b3"] related_routes: [{"route_id":"route_draft_78081a63a442","slug":"beijing-xian-shanghai-9-days","title":"Four Lines, One Country","url":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/beijing-xian-shanghai-9-days","duration_label":"9d","price_label":"$3,230","image":"https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1ANRdHZy.webp","route_stops":{"en-US":["Beijing","Xi'an","Shanghai"],"zh-CN":["北京","西安","上海"],"de-DE":["Peking","Xi'an","Shanghai"],"fr-FR":["Pékin","Xi'an","Shanghaï"],"es-ES":["Pekín","Xi'an","Shanghái"],"it-IT":["Pechino","Xi'an","Shanghai"]},"sort_order":0}, {"route_id":"route_draft_379346779d53","slug":"shanghai-hangzhou-3-days","title":"Shanghai After the Expo","url":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/shanghai-hangzhou-3-days","duration_label":"3d","price_label":"$1,200","image":"https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/luHUZreV.webp","route_stops":{"en-US":["Shanghai","Hangzhou"],"zh-CN":["上海","杭州"],"de-DE":["Shanghai","Hangzhou"],"fr-FR":["Shanghaï","Hangzhou"],"es-ES":["Shanghái","Hangzhou"],"it-IT":["Shanghai","Hangzhou"]},"sort_order":10}, {"route_id":"route_draft_2b0a983d84b3","slug":"shanghai-water-towns-7-days","title":"Shanghai, by Water","url":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/shanghai-water-towns-7-days","duration_label":"7d","price_label":"$2,190","image":"https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b3JL4qyN.webp","route_stops":{"en-US":["Shanghai","Suzhou","Hangzhou"],"zh-CN":["上海","苏州","杭州"],"de-DE":["Shanghai","Suzhou","Hangzhou"],"fr-FR":["Shanghaï","Suzhou","Hangzhou"],"es-ES":["Shanghái","Suzhou","Hangzhou"],"it-IT":["Shanghai","Suzhou","Hangzhou"]},"sort_order":20}] url: "https://www.lyriktrip.com/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide" canonical_url: "https://www.lyriktrip.com/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide" locale: "en-US" alternates: {"en-US":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","en-GB":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/en-GB/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","zh-CN":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/zh-CN/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","zh-TW":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/zh-TW/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","de-DE":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/de-DE/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","fr-FR":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/fr-FR/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","es-ES":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/es-ES/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","it-IT":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/it-IT/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide","x-default":"https://www.lyriktrip.com/guides/shanghai-driverless-car-guide"} --- # How Do You Ride a Driverless Car in Shanghai? _Last Updated: 2026-09-28 | Reading Time: 4 min_ ## Table of Contents - How Do You Ride a Driverless Car in Shanghai? - Key takeaways - Who is this afternoon for? - Where does the driverless ride actually happen? - What do you see inside Shanghai Tower? - What else is on the same half-day? - How does this fit the rest of a China trip? - FAQ - The short version ## Related routes - [Four Lines, One Country](https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/beijing-xian-shanghai-9-days) — 9d · $3,230 - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1ANRdHZy.webp - Stops: Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, 北京, 西安, 上海, Peking, Xi'an, Shanghai, Pékin, Xi'an, Shanghaï, Pekín, Xi'an, Shanghái, Pechino, Xi'an, Shanghai - [Shanghai After the Expo](https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/shanghai-hangzhou-3-days) — 3d · $1,200 - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/luHUZreV.webp - Stops: Shanghai, Hangzhou, 上海, 杭州, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shanghaï, Hangzhou, Shanghái, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou - [Shanghai, by Water](https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/shanghai-water-towns-7-days) — 7d · $2,190 - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b3JL4qyN.webp - Stops: Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, 上海, 苏州, 杭州, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghaï, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghái, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou ![A humanoid robot on a Shanghai tech afternoon that includes a driverless\-car ride](https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4471a672bb6d.jpg) ## How Do You Ride a Driverless Car in Shanghai? \*\*You ride one on a public test road, in a car with roof sensors, after leaving central Lujiazui by metro\. Shanghai had opened 3,173 autonomous\-test roads by the end of 2025, about a third of the city, according to the Shanghai transport authorities' 2025 report, carried by Shanghai Observer on 13 February 2026\. A few Lujiazui streets are excluded\.\*\* At LyrikTrip we put this stop inside a half\-day in Pudong, because the car alone does not explain why the city built it\. The same afternoon is also when most first\-time visitors go up Shanghai Tower\. ## Key takeaways \- The ride is live traffic in a demonstration area, not a theme\-park loop, and weather or permits can cancel that one leg\. \- Shanghai Tower is at 501 Yincheng Middle Road, Metro Line 2, Lujiazui\. Floor 52 is Duoyun Bookstore at 239 metres\. Floor 118 is the observation hall at 546 metres\. \- NIO and ZEEKR showrooms, and a humanoid robot you can walk up to, sit on the same half\-day\. A drone drop and hands\-on gadgets are listed as further stops\. \- Children under 8 and guests over 70 are excluded from the guided version\. Strollers do not go in the car\. ## Who is this afternoon for? | You are | What you actually want | Start here | | --- | --- | --- | | A family fitting Shanghai into a longer China trip | One clear half\-day, not six separate tickets | The six stops below | | A couple who already walked the Bund | The towers from inside, plus a car with no driver | Shanghai Tower, then the ride | | Someone who cares how the city moves | Showrooms and the robot, more than another viewpoint | The NIO wall and the robot hall | The cultural point is simple: this is ordinary Shanghai infrastructure, not a spectacle built for visitors\. That is why it is worth the hour\. ## Where does the driverless ride actually happen? It happens on roads Shanghai has opened for autonomous testing, in a car sent to a demonstration area\. You do not hail it from a hotel in the former French Concession and ride it to the Bund\. The Shanghai report places those roads mainly in Pudong, except some Lujiazui streets, and across much of Jiading, plus pieces of Fengxian and Minhang\. Guests who have done the guided afternoon describe a metro ride toward the suburbs before the car\. The vehicle in the activity photos is a white test car with a sensor ring on the roof, stopped under an elevated road\. The exact curb that day is the guide's, not a pin you can save tonight\. If that leg is scrubbed, the rest of the afternoon still stands\. Do not book the half\-day only for the car\. ## What do you see inside Shanghai Tower? You see the river from a bookstore, or the whole city from a glass ring, depending on the floor you choose\. Shanghai's official visitor site lists the building this way: floor 52 is the Duoyun Bookstore flagship, floor 118 is the observation hall, floor 119 is a café\. The bookstore sits at 239 metres, with windows toward the Huangpu, the Oriental Pearl, Jin Mao and the Shanghai World Financial Center\. The hall at 546 metres is glass all the way around\. Both guided options include one coffee or one dessert\. The floor is the difference between the two standard prices\. The address is 501 Yincheng Middle Road\. Metro Line 2, Lujiazui station, puts you at the door\. If the only question left is which of the four Lujiazui tickets to buy, read \[which Shanghai observation deck to pay for\]\(/guides/shanghai\-observation\-decks\-guide\)\. ## What else is on the same half-day? You walk a NIO showroom, often with ZEEKR named alongside it, and a robot hall where a humanoid is out on the floor\. The showroom photos show a dark NIO in front of a wall explaining its full autonomous stack, and a row of electric cars under gallery lights\. This is a visit\. Nobody puts you in the driver's seat\. The robot in the photos wears a silver jacket and a blue light for a face\. Visitors stand close enough to hold a phone up to it\. Loose mechanical parts sit beside the platform, so you see the machine, not only a costume\. Two further stops are in the activity description and not in the photo set: a drone carrying an order to a collection point, and a room of smaller smart devices\. Treat those as what is open that day\. An exoskeleton, robot\-made coffee, drone delivery as a promised inclusion, and a hotel car belong to the top booking option, not to the standard tower floors\. If you would rather not assemble the metro, the tower floor and the car yourself, book \[a Shanghai driverless\-car afternoon\]\(/experience/shanghai\-tech\-discovery\-driverless\-car\)\. Standard options meet at a point confirmed after booking\. Only the top option includes a hotel car\. ## How does this fit the rest of a China trip? Give it one afternoon in Shanghai, after the Bund and before you leave for the next city\. It does not need its own day, and it does not replace the Bund at night\. Most first trips that include Shanghai also include Beijing and Xi'an\. \[A 9\-day Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai tour\]\(/tours/beijing\-xian\-shanghai\-9\-days\) is the shape that leaves an afternoon free in Pudong without dropping the wall or the terracotta army\. Use the morning for the Bund on foot\. Use the afternoon for the tower and the car\. ## FAQ ### Is the driverless car on a closed track? No\. The ride is described as a designated demonstration area in ordinary traffic\. Shanghai's open test roads, as of the 2025 report, are mostly outside a few Lujiazui streets\. Weather, permits and the day's cars can move or drop that leg\. ### Can I do Shanghai Tower without the car? Yes\. Floor 52 and floor 118 are sold as their own options, with one coffee or dessert included\. The car, the showrooms and the robot are the rest of the afternoon, not a condition of going up the tower\. ### Are children allowed? The guided afternoon excludes children under 8 and guests over 70, and it does not take unaccompanied minors\. Strollers are not allowed in the vehicle\. Tell us about mobility needs before the day is set\. ### Do I need to speak Chinese? The guided version runs in English or Chinese\. German, French, Spanish and Italian need a request when you book\. The tower itself does not require a guide if you only want the bookstore or the hall\. ## The short version Ride the car on an open test road, then look at the city from floor 52 or floor 118 of Shanghai Tower\. Keep the showroom and the robot if you want the rest of how Shanghai is building that system\. If the dates, the ages or the language do not fit a set afternoon, \[plan a private trip around the same stops\]\(/private\-china\-trip\-planner\)\. ## Plan this China trip with a specialist Share your dates, pace, and must-see places. We will turn the planning notes into a private route that works on the ground.