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A self-driving car built by Chongqing Changan Automobile Co, Ford's Chinese partner, has successfully driven 1,200 miles (nearly 2,000 kilometres) across China, Bloomberg reports.

In a statement to the Shenzen stock exchange, the company revealed that the car had travelled from Chongqing in the southwest to Beijing in the northeast, using camera sensors and radar to test a variety of functions. These included lane-changing, automatic cruising, assisted driving in high traffic, traffic sign recognition, speed reduction and voice control.

It made the journey in six days, which averages out at 200 miles per day. This is consistent with Google's 54 self-driving cars on public roads, which average between 185 and 275 miles per day.

Chingqing is among several companies competing to put automated cars on China's roads, and aims to have a viable product by 2020.