China's smart cities to take shape with latest tech

Yu Shaohua, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said 5G could allow accessing the network at any time in any place by anyone, truly achieving the Internet of everything and integration of various industries to construct a smart city.

One application is autonomous driving. In February, China's telecommunication and expressway operators agreed to launch the country's first 5G-based smart highway project in central Hubei Province.

The highway, combined with autonomous driving vehicles, would make it possible to gather real-time traffic information and make relevant predictions.

Smart stores, which offer customized AI-powered recommendations to customers, are also being built in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Jinan.

Chinese technology companies such as JD.com, Suning.com, and Alibaba have all been expanding their offline stores in recent years, rolling out more customized services with data gathered on consumers' preferences.

Experts say the integration of traditional businesses and tech may further stimulate consumption.

"The smart business will re-construct China's consumption model, such as the integration of online and offline business and unmanned stores. Such models are expected to generate more new consumption scenes in the future," said Shi Guangshun, an associate professor of the College of Artificial Intelligence in Nankai University.

Shen Jin, global vice president of Qualcomm, said at WIC that the future of smart interconnection depicts a picture with people connected to a huge number of equipment terminals and other objects.

Society can be more efficient, humanistic, innovative and safer, he said.