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

Chinese researchers have successfully accelerated a ton-class test vehicle to 700 kilometers per hour within two seconds on a 400-meter magnetic levitation (maglev) track using a superconducting electromagnetic propulsion system, setting a new world record.

The currently world's fastest acceleration on such a platform was followed by a safe stop, according to the research team at National University of Defense Technology, who made the breakthrough after 10 years of efforts.

The breakthrough addressed several challenges in core technologies, including ultra-high-speed electromagnetic propulsion, electric levitation guidance, transient high-power energy storage inversion, and high-field superconducting magnets.

It makes China a global leader in developing ultra-high-speed maglev systems, offers the country a new option for the future development of vacuum tube maglev transportation, as well as new approaches and new means for aerospace-assisted launch and experimental testing.

The subsequent technological iterations and industrial applications of this achievement will inject new momentum into China's aviation, aerospace and rail transit industries.

"The success of our ultra-high-speed superconducting electric maglev system will speed up the development of China's ultra-high-speed maglev transportation. Next, our team will focus on ultra-high-speed tube maglev transportation, aviation and aerospace equipment testing, electromagnetic launch, and other cutting-edge areas while promoting closer collaboration among enterprises, universities, research institutes and end-users to contribute to independent innovation in defense technology," said Li Jie, a professor at the university.

China sets new record in superconducting maglev propulsion