"If new energy vehicles are compared to the first half and intelligent networked vehicles to the second half, The Chinese automotive industry has achieved great results in the first half, but the decision is still in the second half," Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said at the China Automobile Hundred Forum.
In recent years, the development of new energy vehicles is certainly the mainstream, but the broad spectrum of intelligent networked vehicles is undoubtedly wider, and even the term "intelligent networking" has gradually become the competitive point of passenger cars. Internet technology plays an increasingly important role in automotive products.
When it comes to intelligent networked vehicles, we may first think of vehicle human-computer interaction including the connection with commonly used Internet software, based on the so-called "intelligent cockpit" car owners can experience the many functions of 3C products on the vehicle, enriching the entertainment and convenience of the car. But at the same time, "driverless" has always been regarded as the ultimate goal of intelligent networked cars, and this goal requires not only pure technology, but also the joint efforts of all walks of life.
Cars are moving towards the era of intelligent networking, and unmanned driving is the ultimate goal
If you were told 20 years ago or even 10 years ago that a vehicle could be the same as the Internet, that it could implement commonly used Internet software functions, and that it could even perform "autonomous driving," you would have thought that person was a liar. But now it seems that intelligent networked cars are stepping into reality.
Through the integration of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and other technologies, the automobile is being transformed from a "hardware-based" industrialized product to a new mobile intelligent terminal. The advantages of this are to significantly improve traffic safety, achieve energy conservation and emission reduction, alleviate traffic congestion, improve traffic efficiency, and promote the integration and development of automotive, electronics, communications and other industries.
In 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology compiled and issued the "Management Specification for Road Testing and Demonstration Applications of Intelligent Connected Vehicles", clearly carried out the pilot project of coordinated development of smart city infrastructure and intelligent networked vehicles, accelerated the formulation of standards such as vehicle information security, software upgrades, and data recording systems, and accelerated the industrialization process. In January 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology once again said that it would make every effort to maintain the smooth and healthy operation of the automobile industry, increase efforts to promote the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles, and strive to improve the stability and competitiveness of the industrial chain supply chain.
In the development of intelligent networked vehicles, in addition to the so-called intelligent cockpit, automatic driving is also regarded as an important point, and even hailed as the ultimate goal. At present, many domestic and foreign vehicle manufacturers and Internet technology companies have begun to lay out in autonomous driving, including Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Baidu, Google, Huawei and other vehicle manufacturers and Internet technology companies have made very significant achievements.
During the recent two sessions, including Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GUANGZHOUC Group, and Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, also made suggestions on the landing of autonomous vehicles, which involved the construction of relevant laws and regulations such as recognizing the legality of autonomous vehicles. As for why the industry is willing to promote the development of intelligent and connected vehicles, including autonomous vehicles, it may have something to do with the changes it can bring to society.
The imagination behind the intelligent networked car The landing of unmanned driving
Li Zhenyu, senior vice president of Baidu Group and general manager of the intelligent driving business group, described his vision for the future of the car at the recent China Electric Vehicle 100 People Conference. It will be a new species with the ability to evolve itself, it will be a robot with emotion and intelligence. Moreover, the future car has the ability to drive autonomously, not only can it be safer than human driving, but also has multi-mode interactions such as voice and face recognition, which can analyze the potential needs of users, take the initiative to provide services, and is an intelligent assistant that loyally accompanies human travel. In addition, it has the ability to learn and upgrade itself, and can serve humans in a variety of scenarios.
Perhaps for the car of the future, it is no longer accurate to call it a "car", and it is more appropriate to call it a "Carman" in the case of cybertrons in Transformers. Moreover, in the development process of intelligent networked vehicles, they will also change the existing urban form. Jiang Wanrong, vice minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, mentioned that the electrification, intelligence, networking and green transformation of the automobile industry is becoming a new driving force to guide urban development and shape urban form. Promoting the coordinated development of smart city infrastructure and intelligent networked vehicles is an important path to promote the transformation of the automobile industry, urban transformation and social transformation in the new era and new situation.
And these are actually taking shape in some parts of the continent. Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said for example that the Beijing Yizhuang High-level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone has become one of the most distinctive pilot demonstration areas in China by combining smart cars, smart roads, accurate maps, real-time clouds and reliable networks. It is understood that in the Beijing Yizhuang high-level automatic driving demonstration area, Baidu enterprises played an important role, of which Baidu Apollo platform (automatic driving platform) under the radish fast running in the fourth quarter of 2021, the number of manned orders reached 213,000, nearly doubled from the previous quarter, the third and fourth quarters to obtain more than 300,000 orders, 2022 this data is still growing at a high speed.
Of course, to promote the landing of high-level intelligent networked vehicles such as driverless cars, the mainland automobile industry and related industries still need to continue to work hard, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xin Guobin proposed that in the supply chain and industrial chain, it is also necessary to deepen integration and innovation, strengthen the innovation and construction of manufacturing centers, accelerate the research and industrialization of key technologies such as new system batteries, vehicle specification-level chips, and vehicle operating systems, promote the integrated development of vehicle-road network cloud maps, and accelerate the construction of new information network road infrastructure. Expand multi-scenario demonstration applications for intelligent and connected vehicles.
In fact, since the intelligent networked car began to enter the public perspective, people have always had some concerns about it, of which software and information security are the focus of attention. In the process of achieving the ultimate goal of unmanned intelligent networked vehicles, safety is always an unavoidable topic. Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, pointed out that in the process of achieving the ultimate goal of unmanned intelligent networked vehicles, there are currently two paths to achieve it, namely the step type represented by Baidu and Waymo and the progressive type represented by Tesla. Regardless of the path, safety is the premise of the development of intelligent networked vehicles, and on this basis, the application of limited scenarios can be moderately accelerated.