news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Source: Huanqiu.com

[Global Network Technology Comprehensive Report] Recently, there has been good news about local legislation on autonomous driving. SAIC Motors responded to investors' questions on August 2, saying that SAIC Robotaxi has carried out demonstration operations in Shanghai, Suzhou and other regions, with a total of nearly 100 vehicles, a cumulative mileage of 4 million kilometers, and more than 200,000 orders. "Subsequently, we will carry out corresponding commercial operations in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the overall arrangements of government departments."

On July 30, the "Shenzhen Action Plan to Accelerate the Creation of an Artificial Intelligence Pioneer City" was issued. The plan pointed out that Shenzhen will build a national demonstration zone for intelligent driving and create a pioneer in intelligent driving. According to the plan, this goal will be mainly carried out from the aspects of intelligent driving products, infrastructure, applications, and standards. The first is to create an intelligent driving product matrix, improve the product chain of basic components such as automotive-grade chips and sensors, strengthen the development of supporting products such as vehicle-mounted intelligent terminals, and enrich the product matrix; the second is to improve the intelligent driving infrastructure, including roadside facilities such as roadside units, network applications such as Internet of Vehicles technology, safety testing platforms, high-precision maps and navigation applications, and integrated facilities for optical storage and supercharging of vehicles and networks; in addition, it will also establish and improve management details such as access management, strengthen research on standards such as key systems, and create an intelligent driving evaluation system to build a support system for intelligent driving. In the plan, Shenzhen has proposed a number of measures to enrich the intelligent driving application ecosystem, including expanding smart transportation scenarios, accelerating the commercial transformation of applications such as fixed routes, closed parks, and unmanned taxis, and expanding the "people-car-home" integrated application scenarios to create a soft and hard collaborative application system.

Currently, autonomous driving has entered a critical stage of large-scale implementation. It is worth mentioning that the Shenzhen plan also mentioned that the smart driving consumer market should be expanded by strengthening the promotion of smart driving, which is a very positive signal. In the early stages of new technology development, the government's active voice can play a role in educating the market, alleviating people's concerns, and encouraging people to try and use new technologies.

Guangzhou was the next to take action, proposing legislation to support the use of self-driving taxis and buses. On August 2, the official website of the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee released the "Guangzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle Innovation and Development Regulations (Draft Amendment Draft for Comments)", which supports the innovative application of intelligent connected vehicles in highways, airports, ports, stations and other trunk lines and transportation hubs, and supports their use in travel service scenarios such as urban buses and taxis.

Shanghai is also accelerating the implementation of autonomous driving. On July 7, Shanghai issued the first batch of demonstration application licenses for driverless intelligent connected vehicles, also known as "completely unmanned vehicle licenses", which means that Shanghai has taken another key step in promoting the commercialization of autonomous driving. The four licensed companies, Saiko Intelligent, Luobo Kuaipao, Shanghai Guodong Technology, and Xiaoma Yixing Technology, can realize the application of fully unmanned vehicles on some sections of Pudong. It is reported that the licensed driverless taxis will be open to the public in August.

Benefiting from Shanghai's strong support for autonomous driving, established automakers exploring new tracks are also enjoying a new year. SAIC Motor said on its investor interaction platform that, to date, SAIC Robotaxi has carried out demonstration operations in Shanghai, Suzhou and other regions, with nearly 100 vehicles in total, a cumulative mileage of 4 million kilometers, and over 200,000 orders.

An innovative city at the forefront of autonomous driving

Cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai have always been at the forefront of the development of autonomous driving. They entered the market early, helping companies to take big steps forward while exploring ways to provide institutional support for companies from a policy and regulatory perspective.

Shenzhen has adopted a special zone model of first-come, first-served in the development of autonomous driving. In 2022, the "Regulations on the Management of Intelligent Connected Vehicles in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone" was issued, which is the first domestic regulation on the management of intelligent connected vehicles. The "Regulations" allow driverless cars to legally drive on the road in a limited area, and also legislate for the first time on the level of autonomous driving technology, traffic violations and accident handling, marking that my country has entered the stage of commercial access to autonomous driving above level L3.

As of May 2024, Shenzhen has opened 944 kilometers of test demonstration roads and issued 1,037 road test and demonstration application notices to 349 smart connected vehicles from 19 companies. Shenzhen, which has achieved the "special zone speed" in autonomous driving, will continue to make efforts to build the most open city for autonomous driving.

Guangzhou's business card for autonomous driving is the star-studded autonomous driving unicorns in the industry today - Pony.ai, WeRide, and Ruqi Mobility. These companies are all headquartered in Guangzhou, and their global autonomous driving dreams also started here. Guangzhou has also provided strong support for these companies in their pursuit of their dreams.

After years of cultivation, Guangzhou's autonomous driving industry has experienced a bumper harvest this year. On July 10, Ruqi Mobility was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first autonomous driving operation technology company. On July 27, WeRide submitted its prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and is expected to become the "first general-purpose autonomous driving company." Pony.ai plans to go public in the U.S. in September this year.

The streets of Guangzhou are also filled with vehicles from autonomous driving platforms such as Luobo Kuaipao, Pony.ai, WeRide, Didi Woya, and Antu Zhixing, as well as intelligent driving vehicles launched by new car manufacturers such as GAC and Xiaopeng, as well as traditional car companies. There are about 15 autonomous driving companies in China that have carried out road testing and operations in Guangzhou. Guangzhou has opened 827 autonomous driving test roads, covering a one-way mileage of about 1,666 kilometers, providing these companies with a wealth of road testing scenarios.

Shanghai is one of the earliest innovative cities in China to develop autonomous driving. In June 2016, the country's first autonomous driving test base was put into operation in Jiading District, Shanghai. During the exploration process, Shanghai has done a lot of pioneering work in the industry from testing to demonstration application stages of autonomous driving development. For example, in terms of testing, it has transitioned from closed test sites to open test roads, and the road design parameters are aligned with national standards while considering the actual needs of autonomous driving. From 2016 to 2021, Shanghai has successively built the first closed test area and open road test area in China.

Last month, Shanghai Pudong New Area opened the second batch of autonomous driving test roads, totaling 205 kilometers. So far, Shanghai has opened a total of 1,003 autonomous driving test roads, with a total mileage of over 2,000 kilometers. Shanghai's intelligent connected vehicle industry ecosystem has taken shape. Shanghai said it will achieve large-scale production of conditionally autonomous intelligent vehicles in 2025.

Policy relaxation will accelerate the implementation of autonomous driving

Not only Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, the pace of autonomous driving legislation in other cities in China is also accelerating.

More than a dozen cities including Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Changsha, Qingdao and Jinan have made substantial progress in regional legislation on autonomous driving, and many local regulations have been officially promulgated and implemented.

For example, the "Hangzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle Testing and Application Promotion Regulations" that came into effect on May 1st grants functional unmanned vehicles innovative applications the right to take to the road, clarifies the charging mechanism for the commercialization of intelligent connected vehicles, and promotes the exploration of autonomous driving business models.

Autonomous driving is an emerging industry that needs to be developed in practical applications. It has no practical significance to conduct simulation tests and unmanned road tests alone. It needs to verify the technology on complex and changeable real roads, improve cognitive capabilities in the interaction with the surrounding real vehicles and pedestrians, and solve practical problems on the road ahead, so that autonomous driving can become stronger and safer.

In this process, policy openness is the booster for autonomous driving to move from the "laboratory" to the "testing ground". It can be seen that with the acceleration of legislation across the country, the development of autonomous driving in urban road scenarios has entered the fast lane.

However, we must also recognize that my country's autonomous driving legislation is still facing challenges such as imperfection and slowness. Local regulations and standards have not yet been unified, and national legislation lacks guidance. Currently, the world's leading autonomous driving forces such as the United States and the European Union are vigorously promoting autonomous driving, and their actions are both early and radical. In contrast, China is relatively slow in autonomous driving legislation, and most cities in China that develop driverless cars are conducting small-scale commercial trials in limited areas and time.

He Xia, former chief engineer and professor-level engineer of the Policy and Economics Research Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, recently expressed her views on autonomous driving legislation. She believes that local governments should make full use of legislation, data regulations and documents to continue to accelerate the path of large-scale commercial exploration of autonomous driving. As the industry gradually matures, the lack of superior laws and the inconsistency of local legislation will affect the development of the entire industry. Therefore, it is necessary to give autonomous driving an appropriate legal status at the national level.

Yu Lingyun, professor at the School of Law of Tsinghua University and director of the Center for Public Law Research, believes that local legislation should be further accelerated. He analyzed recent industry hot spots such as the "carrot run" public opinion in Wuhan and pointed out that factors such as employment problems brought about by industrial adjustments, problems with the maturity of algorithm technology, and security concerns should not hinder the acceleration of local legislation.