"The transportation network will be launched on the evening of Dec. 10, and offer free rides for the public the next day at speeds up to 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour), according to Musk, also CEO of US leading electric auto maker Tesla and private spaceflight company SpaceX.
This year, 19 enterprises and 19 projects have won prizes, including China National Offshore Oil Corp ltd, State Grid Corp of China and Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.
Notably, significant progress has been achieved in fields such as manned spaceflight, supercomputing, and airliner manufacturing.
The Ningbo municipal government signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology in December last year to jointly build the center at Xiangshan's Ningbo Aerospace Science and Technology Town.
Industrial robots cover 65 major industries in China, playing an important role in major projects such as manned spaceflight and lunar exploration, Xin added.
The country has made major breakthroughs in key areas such as manned spaceflight, lunar and Mars explorations, supercomputing, satellite communication, quantum information technology, nuclear power, aircraft manufacturing and artificial intelligence, the report said.
"AI technology will also help facilitate a manned spaceflight to Mars and even the Jovian system－the moons of the planet Jupiter－because such sophisticated endeavors will need close collaboration between astronauts and highly intelligent robots, Yang said.