Smart vehicles becoming a common sight nationwide

Some 2.88 million passenger vehicles with driving-assist functions were sold in first half

Smart or autonomous vehicles have become a ubiquitous part of the daily lives of people in China, the world's largest vehicle market.

In the first half of this year, 2.88 million passenger vehicles with driving-assist functions were sold in the country, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. They accounted for 32.4 percent of all passenger vehicles sold in the nation during that period and their sales were up 46.2 percent year-on-year.

Xin Guobin, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said China will roll out more policies and deepen international exchanges to create a better environment for the burgeoning sector. He made the remarks at the 2022 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference that concluded last week.

Zhang Kai, chairman of Chinese autonomous driving startup Haomo.ai, said up to 70 percent of new vehicles sold in China by 2025 will be smart vehicles with high-level driving-assist functions.

"China is now the major market for smart vehicles," he said, adding the country is now home to 57 percent of smart vehicles globally, ahead of Europe and the United States.

Thanks to the rising acceptance of autonomous driving by Chinese customers, the country has seen a sharp rise in autonomous companies and their products.

Haomo.ai's driving-assist system, called HPilot, has been installed in seven sedan and SUV models in the country, and the figure is expected to reach dozens by the end of this year.

The latest version of the system, the HPilot 3.0, is expected to hit the market later this year on a Wey SUV model from Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motors.

Zhang said the total mileage of vehicles with the HPilot system has exceeded 17 million kilometers.

Xu Changming, deputy director of the State Information Center, said the post-1995 generation will be the driving force of the smart vehicle sector's development in the country.

"They grew up using the internet and artificial intelligence. So they will be a major customer group for China's smart vehicle makers," said Xu, who estimated that roughly 35 percent of China's car buyers in 2030 will have been born after 1995.

Carmakers are unveiling cutting-edge models, with Xpeng launching its mid-and-large-sized flagship SUV G9 on Wednesday.

The vehicle features Xpeng's second-generation driving-assist system and its latest voice recognition system which can take commands from different parts of the cabin and understand successive instructions.

The G9, which is expected to be delivered in October, boasts a new powertrain system using China's first 800-voltage Silicon Carbide platform.

At the carmaker's new 480-kilowatt supercharging station, the model can be charged from 10 percent to 80 percent in only 15 minutes. Xpeng said it aims to open 2,000 supercharging stations across the country by 2025.

Wey, the premium arm of Great Wall Motors, launched a new variant of its Mocha plug-in hybrid electric SUV, featuring two lidar sensors, at the Chengdu auto show held in August.

It is China's first mass-produced model sporting Qualcomm's Snapdragon Ride, the chipmaker's platform for autonomous driving functions.

Qiao Xinyu, deputy general manager of Wey, said smart driving will be the decisive factor in the highly competitive new energy vehicle segment.

In terms of hardware, the model features 31 sensors including two lidar sensors and a 360 Tera Operations Per Second or TOPS chip.

The Mocha model is also the first Chinese model to feature a smart driving solution tailored for urban traffic situations developed by Chinese startup Haomo.ai. The model can spot traffic lights and is capable of such functions as changing lanes and overtaking vehicles.

Besides driving-assist functions, highly automated vehicles are being seen in specific designated areas in China, like ports and industrial parks.

Inceptio Technology, a Chinese autonomous driving startup, said its fleet of trucks have accumulated over 6 million kilometers of trips. The company was established in Shanghai in 2018, dedicated to Level 3 and 4 autonomous technologies for trucks.

Its Level 3 autonomous system, called the Xuanyuan, was unveiled in March 2021. Two models developed in collaboration with Dongfeng and Sinotruk started production in late 2021.

The startup said it is updating the system and making breakthroughs in its core technology, including algorithms, hardware and data.

Wu Gansha, CEO of Chinese startup Uisee, said autonomous buses and trucks are more economical than conventional vehicles.

Terminal distribution is another segment that is seeing the introduction of unmanned vehicles. Terminal distribution refers to logistics services that interact with end-users.

In Beijing, companies including Uisee are making inroads in the segment.

A report by investment company Estar Capital said the sales revenue of the country's terminal distribution market stood at around 300 billion yuan ($46 billion) in 2021.