China making headway in intelligent connected vehicle development

China has made significant advancements in the development of intelligent connected vehicles, according to expert at the 2024 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICV) Conference.

At the opening ceremony of the conference on Thursday, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong said that China has established a complete ICV industrial system covering foundational chips, sensors, computing platforms, chassis control and internet-based cloud control.

He said that China's technologies like human-machine interaction are in a leading position globally, while breakthroughs in steer-by-wire and active suspension systems are gathering pace.

"Infrastructure development is speeding up. Over 50 cities nationwide are conducting road testing demonstrations for ICVs, with 32,000 kilometers of testing roads opened and approximately 10,000 kilometers of roads undergoing intelligent upgrades, along with the installation of over 8,700 roadside units," said Jin.

He also emphasized that China has nurtured nearly 400 "little giant" enterprises that apply special and sophisticated technologies to produce unique and novel products in the ICV sector, with five lidar companies ranking in the global top 10.

Furthermore, international cooperation continues to deepen, as China has cooperated with Europe, Japan, and the United States to develop multiple regulations for autonomous driving, he said.

Jin said that advancements in computing power, big data and large models are expected to lead to significant breakthroughs in advanced autonomous driving technology, ushering in a new development stage for ICVs.

Jin outlined four areas to promote the industry's new development. First, in integrated innovation, the country will focus on next-generation electronic and electrical architecture, high-performance chips, domain controllers and super-intelligent systems to foster integration among vehicles, smart grids, intelligent transportation and smart cities.

Second, China will expand application scenarios with pilot projects for integrated vehicle-road-cloud computing applications in logistics, public transport, taxis and environmental sanitation, he said.

"Third, we will improve standards and regulations, revising traffic safety and insurance laws, establishing and improving a regulatory framework for high-level autonomous driving and accelerating the formulation of standards for functional safety, cybersecurity, and data security," he said.

Jin said that within the framework of the International Organization for Standardization, China will also strengthen cooperation on standards and regulations with various countries, and explore policies to facilitate cross-border data flow.

China making headway in intelligent connected vehicle development

Israeli forces have launched fresh strikes across multiple areas of the Gaza Strip, with local sources reporting civilian casualties and a further worsening of the humanitarian crisis.

According to Gaza's Civil Defense, the Israeli artillery strike on Friday evening in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City has killed five local residents, including children. The strike brought the number of Palestinians killed since the October ceasefire to around 400.

"A classroom at the displacement site, where five families were sheltering, was targeted. I was inside when the walls collapsed on us during the strike. I was trapped under the rubble along with my grandson, who was injured. After the bombing, I tried to get up and managed to get out of the place. There were many dead and body parts everywhere," recalled Ismail Al-Barsh, an eyewitness of the attack.

Abu Hamza Affana, an ambulance director who took part in the rescue operation, said Israeli forces repeatedly obstructed emergency efforts.

"When ambulance crews first responded to the distress call, the Israeli army opened fire, forcing us to withdraw due to the continued shooting and shelling of the school. After we were later allowed to proceed, we reached the site and dealt with the casualties," he said.

The Israeli military said the incident is under investigation.

The attacks came as displaced families grapple with severe weather and growing shortages of shelter and basic supplies, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

Local sources said that as a powerful storm swept through the region recently, at least 13 Palestinian children died due to shortages of essential supplies and medical services.

Gaza humanitarian crisis worsens as Israeli strikes continue