Under the scorching sun at the airport in Laos, manual inspectors bent down to carefully inspect every inch of the pavement, but still couldn't escape the leakage of tiny cracks. When the real pain points of ASEAN meet the technological ingenuity of Guangxi, the cross-border unveiling mechanism quietly opens up a cross-border joint research and development - technology is no longer passively transplanted, but tailored to demand.

Cross border unveiling project unveiled

Recently, the 2026 ASEAN International Technology Transfer and Innovation Cooperation Conference was held in Nanning, where the first batch of 14 ASEAN AI cross-border unveiling and leading application scenarios were released. The intelligent unmanned vehicle inspection project for airport pavements in Laos has made its debut as a typical case of ASEAN's proposal, Guangxi's announcement, and collaborative unveiling, providing a high-quality demonstration for cross-border scientific and technological innovation collaboration between China and ASEAN.

There are shortcomings in airport operation and maintenance

According to Ji Wenxuan from the Lao Civil Aviation Authority, the local aviation industry is developing rapidly, with a continuous increase in flight takeoffs and landings, and the available time for road inspections is constantly being compressed. Traditional inspections in Laos rely on manual or ordinary vehicle inspections, which are easily affected by light and personnel conditions. Small cracks and foreign objects on the runway are difficult to fully identify, and it is difficult to identify deep hidden dangers on the pavement. The pressure of flight safety assurance is prominent, and intelligent inspection solutions are urgently needed.

Two way linkage joint research and development

In March 2026, Guangxi officially launched the ASEAN Cross border Artificial Intelligence Unveiling and Leading Project, with ASEAN providing demand, Guangxi building platforms, gathering resources, and solving problems to achieve precise integration of technology supply and application scenarios. In response to the inspection needs of airports in Laos, Guangxi Jiaotou Technology has successfully unveiled the list, and the two sides have reached a joint research and development cooperation. Liu Yu, Deputy General Manager of Guangxi Communications Investment Technology, introduced that the project combines visual, LiDAR, and ground penetrating radar multi-source perception technologies with the actual scene of Laos airport to achieve intelligent recognition of pavement diseases, foreign objects, and non-contact detection of internal hazards. By using lightweight large models, real-time edge inference, intelligent obstacle avoidance, and path planning techniques, we have built a dedicated sample library for Laos airports and completed localized algorithm training. Simultaneously developing a multilingual operating interface and compiling localized operation and maintenance manuals to ensure that the technology can be implemented, operated, and replicated.

During the project progress, Lao Fang is responsible for refining requirements, opening up the venue, providing data, and participating in testing and discussions throughout the entire process; The Chinese side is responsible for the research and development, data collection, algorithm iteration, and on-site verification of unmanned vehicles. In response to issues such as inconsistent cross-border R&D standards and difficulty in testing, both parties have established a collaborative model where the old side sets requirements, the Chinese side conducts R&D, jointly sets standards, and jointly implements projects to promote joint resource investment and responsibility sharing. Ji Wenxuan stated that in the past, Laos often passively accepted foreign technology, which led to insufficient technological adaptability. The unveiling and leadership mechanism allows Laos to directly identify real pain points, and Guangxi precisely matches the R&D team, shifting from technology adaptation scenarios to on-demand customized R&D, resulting in results that are more in line with local realities and have stronger practicality.

After the project is implemented, it can achieve automatic identification, precise positioning, and graded control of hidden dangers, diseases, and foreign objects on the airport pavement, forming a closed-loop management of independent inspection risk identification work order linkage operation and maintenance decision-making. It can not only enhance the ability to identify small hidden dangers in the early stage, reduce missed detections and misjudgments, reduce manual intensity, and build a solid defense line for aviation safety, but also rely on automated analysis to improve inspection and operation efficiency, providing scientific decision-making support for airport management. Keywords: China, Laos, intelligent inspection, technology implementation, ASEAN innovation, smart infrastructure

Liu Yu stated that the project is fully adapted to the local scene in Laos and can be quickly promoted to various airports in Laos and other ASEAN countries. The team will continue to rely on the ASEAN proposal, Guangxi integration, and national collaboration models to promote the implementation and effectiveness of more China ASEAN smart infrastructure science and technology innovation projects, and empower regional development.Editor/Gong Ziwei