AI has made systems of a self-driving vehicle much smarter with less human cost.
At the Auto China show in Beijing, many of the new car models on display are equipped with autonomous driving features.
Plenty of top Chinese AI companies have developed autonomous driving software for cars. One such company, SenseTime, says the industry has hit a challenging bottleneck.
In order to let the autonomous driving system correctly recognize and analyze what's been collected, and execute corresponding driving maneuvers, developers need to write lines and lines of code to set rules for each possible scenario.
This is attainable for less complicated locations like highways, but on city roads where human actions are much more erratic, it's hard for programmers to keep up.
"There are many complex scenarios which cannot be defined by rules. Meanwhile, the design for every scenario requires thousands of program engineers and a very long time," said Wang Xiaogang, co-founder and chief scientist of SenseTime.
So, at the auto show, SenseTime presented a different solution: instead of improving various devices like LiDAR sensors and radars, its system relies mainly on video cameras.
The work of on-road rule-setting is relegated to an AI system, which condenses all visual input into something easily understood by an algorithm.
"In our self-driving systems, each module, from perception, fusion, to positioning and control, has been integrated into a single neural network. This has significantly reduced the workload in code development," Wang said.
The challenges of this approach are obvious too. Like many AI systems, a neural network needs to be constantly trained to self-improve, and that requires data.
"In the future, data is absolutely key. You need to have a lot amount of data to just train your model," said Cui Dong, managing director of Boston Consulting Group.
Experts say going forward, the global smart car race is likely to go hand in hand with the race for AI prowess.
AI empowers self-driving systems of vehicles
A Chinese mainland spokesperson said Lai Ching-te has sent "a dangerous signal" of seeking "Taiwan independence" and making provocations to undermine cross-Strait peace and stability in his speech upon assuming the role of Taiwan region's new leader on Monday.
Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, described Lai's speech as one that stubbornly followed the "Taiwan independence" stance, wantonly advocated separatism, incited cross-Strait confrontation and sought independence by relying on foreign support and by force.
Chen said the mainstream public aspiration on the island is for peace and development, instead of war and recession, while Lai has ignored the public opinion, exposing his nature of being "a worker for Taiwan independence."
The current complex and grave situation across the Strait is rooted in the fact that the Democratic Progressive Party has stubbornly stuck to the separatist stance of "Taiwan independence," rejected the 1992 Consensus that embodies the one-China principle, and kept colluding with external forces to make provocations of seeking "Taiwan independence," Chen said.
Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, said Chen, stressing that "Taiwan independence" and peace across the Strait are incompatible as fire and water.
"We have firm determination to resolve the Taiwan question and realize national reunification; we have strong capabilities to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity; and we will take resolute actions to fight separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence' and external interference," he said.
"We will never tolerate any 'Taiwan independence' separatist acts in any form," said Chen.
China must and will be reunified, Chen stressed. No matter how the situation on the island changes and who assumes the regional leader, it will not change the fact that both sides of the Strait belong to one China, or impede the historical trend of national reunification, he said.
"We will fully implement the Party's overall policy for resolving the Taiwan question in the new era, unswervingly uphold the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, work together with Taiwan compatriots to promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and cross-Strait integrated development, and resolutely advance the reunification of the motherland," said Chen.
Mainland says Lai sends "dangerous signal" in speech as Taiwan's new leader
