Autonomous Transportation Research (ATRes, ISSN：3050-8622) is sponsored by Wuhan University of Technology and co-sponsored by the State Key Laboratory of Maritime Technology and Safety, National Engineering Research Center for Water Transport Safety, and Engineering Research Center of Transportation Information and Safety, Ministry of Education, China.

(1) Wuhan University of Technology

Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) is a state key university directly affiliated to the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. WUT is among the first batch of universities which have entered the national “211 Project" and China's “Double-First Class" Initiative. WUT is jointly developed by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transport. As the university directly affiliated to the Ministry of Education which cultivates the largest amount of talents in three major industrial sectors, namely, building and construction materials, transportation, and automobile industries, WUT becomes an important base for the cultivation of high-level scientific talents and technological innovation for the three industrial sectors.

WUT has three main campuses, including Mafangshan Campus, Yujiatou Campus and the South Lake Campus, with a total land area of 2.67 million square meters and a total gross floor area of 1.95 million square meters. Currently, WUT has over 60,000 faculty and students, 26 academic schools, 5 independently established research institutes, 3 industry-education integration demonstration bases established in collaboration with local governments, and 4 modern libraries with a collection of 4.16 million books. Since 2000, WUT has been awarded over 20 national science and technology prizes, ranking in the forefront of all Chinese colleges and universities.

Over the years, WUT has formed educational ideology system with distinctive characteristics, with the lofty ideal of “Building an excellent university to win worldwide recognition and admiration", the spirit of “Sound in morality, broad in learning and pursuing excellence", the principle of “Taking students' cultivation as our essence, and taking academic development as our priority", and the educational concept of “Implementing excellent education, nurturing excellent talents and creating an excellent life". Guided by the WUT Charter approved by the Ministry of Education, WUT is committed to the modernization of the governance system and capability, aiming to rank among the world-class universities with distinctive features.

(2) State Key Laboratory of Maritime Technology and Safety

State Key Laboratory of Maritime Technology and Safety (SKL MTS) was optimized and reorganized in 2023 with Shanghai Ship Transport Research Institute Co., LTD., Wuhan University of Technology and Dalian Maritime University. It is the only national key laboratory in the field of waterway transportation in China. The laboratory is positioned as a national key laboratory for applied basic research. It is based on the international academic frontier of waterway transportation and oriented towards the major demands of the country. It focuses on the application scenarios of inland, near-sea, deep-sea and polar transportation, and breaks through the human-machine integrated intelligent operation control mechanism and accident generation laws of waterway transportation systems. Create a new generation of waterway transportation system control system featuring "one map, one network and four systems", build a theoretical and technological source for intelligent waterway transportation control, and serve the construction of a green, low-carbon, intelligent and safe "shipping power".

(3) National Engineering Research Center for Water Transport Safety

On September 28th, 2014, National Engineering Research Center for Water Transport Safety (WTS Center) which is operated by Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) was approved by Ministry of Science and Technology, China. On September 6th, 2018, it further passed the examination and appraisal jointly conducted by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Director is responsible for daily operation of the Center under the guidance of the Administrative Committe, the Technical Comitee, and the Advisory Committee.

To meet the demand of transportation safety in China and focus on water transport by both river and ocean, security and intelligence. WTS Center has carried out research in the multi-layered accident analysis and prevention, all-dimensional safety monitoring and control, all- weather emergency response and rescue, and high-level R&D for safety technologies related to the water transport.

The targets of WTS are to overcome the following key technical bottlenecks: monitoring and warning of the ship condition, detection of navigation environment and NavAid service, maritime safety management and emergency response, and seamanship training and improvement. In addition, WTS Center is devoted to develop a commercialization platform for the research products in the area of water transport safety and a world-class incubating center for high-level talents and international exchange and cooperation. WTS Center is envisaged to be an important contributor of the technical innovation in the water transport safety industry and to take the lead in the sustainable development of water transport industry.

(4) Engineering Research Center of Transportation Information and Safety, MoE of China

The Engineering Research Center of Transportation Information and Safety of the Ministry of Education was approved for construction by the Ministry of Education on June 25, 2023 with a construction period of three years. The center implements the director responsibility system under the guidance of the technical committee. The center conducts work in four research and engineering directions: traffic information perception and smart highways, vehicle -road cloud collaboration and autonomous driving, digitalization and intelligent control of traffic planning, and traffic safety control and emergency rescue.