China expects one in every two new cars sold to be equipped with smart and at least partial autonomous functions by 2020. China has 25 million car sales in 2018. This usually increases by 3% to 8% each year. China should have about 28 million cars sold in 2020. This would mean over 14 million will have network connections and at least partial self-driving.
This will be a US$14 billion market for intelligent connected vehicles by 2020, according to Industry and Information Technology Minister Miao Wei.
The first fully self-driving bus developed by Baidu has reached over 10,000 kilometers mileage with no accidents.
In July, Nasdaq-listed Baidu said its first 100 self-driving buses had been built and would be put into use in cities including Beijing, Xiongan, Shenzhen and Tokyo.
Baidu is investing heavily into self-driving car projects and has formed partnerships with Microsoft and Intel, and carmakers BMW, Ford and Daimler.
Baidu and BYD will mass produce self-driving cars starting around 2021.
Tencent is working on building a voice-operated version of its WeChat messaging app into cars that can also enable real-time navigation and the sharing of geographic location, according to Ma. The company has pushed back on the introduction because of concerns about safety.
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