Speeding up the development of the global smart car industry (international perspective)

　　Core reading

　　Smart cars have become a strategic direction for the development of the global automotive industry, and are being valued by more and more countries.

Many countries have introduced industrial policies, laws and regulations, and stepped up efforts to support the development of smart car technologies such as autonomous driving and related industries.

　　The International Data Corporation (IDC) recently released the "IDC Global Intelligent Connected Vehicle Forecast Report" that the compound annual growth rate of global intelligent vehicle shipments in the next five years will reach 16.8%.

By 2024, the global annual shipment of smart cars will reach about 76.2 million, and the smart car market will usher in a period of rapid development.

　　Smart car research and development continues to be hot

　　Smart cars are usually also called intelligent connected cars and autonomous vehicles. They are equipped with advanced sensors and other devices, using new technologies such as artificial intelligence, and have autonomous driving functions, gradually becoming a new generation of smart mobile space and application terminals.

　　In the smart travel zone of the 3rd CIIE that closed not long ago, Ford Motor of the United States demonstrated its self-developed "Smart City Simulation Platform".

Ford said it will invest more than US$4 billion by 2023 for research and development and applications in the field of autonomous driving.

　　Since the beginning of this year, the epidemic has had an impact on the world economy, but the enthusiasm for investment in the field of smart car research and development has not diminished.

In February, Japanese automaker Toyota Motor announced an investment of US$400 million in Pony Zhixing.

In June, Volkswagen of Germany completed an investment of up to US$2.6 billion in Argo AI, a start-up company for autonomous driving technology platform.

With the increase in investment in autonomous driving, vehicle-road collaboration and related artificial intelligence technologies, the speed of smart car development and application will further increase.

　　In August, the State of Michigan announced that it would renovate a 40-mile road to create the nation's first dedicated lane for intelligent connected cars and autonomous vehicles-the "Michigan Smart Travel Corridor."

At the beginning of this year, GM's self-driving subsidiary Cruise launched the Cruise Origin self-driving car with a sense of style and technology in San Francisco.

It is the same size as a traditional car, but it has more space due to the omission of the cab and other structures.

Google’s Waymo announced last year that it is planning to build the world’s first production plant for autonomous vehicles.

　　Related industrial policies have been introduced

　　Facing the new development trend of smart cars, various countries have introduced laws, regulations and industrial policies to support the research and development and application of innovative technologies by related enterprises, while managing and regulating related safety legal issues.

　　In 2010, the European Commission formulated the first programmatic document for the coordination and deployment of the smart car industry in various member states.

In May 2018, the European Commission issued the "Road to Automated Mobility: EU's Future Mobility Strategy", proposing to fully enter the autonomous driving society by 2030.

　　Germany introduced the "Autonomous and Connected Driving Strategy" in 2015, announcing that it will invest billions of euros to transform network infrastructure and encourage the development of smart cars.

In 2018, France included the autonomous driving field in the national artificial intelligence development plan and the action plan for promoting economic growth and corporate transformation, and provided policy facilitation and financial support for research and development in this field.

The French government has approved to allow driverless cars to drive on public roads between 2020 and 2022.

　　In 2019, the European Union Cyber ​​Security Agency issued "Good Practices for Smart Car Security", which proposed solutions and frameworks for smart car network security and privacy protection issues, formulated a list of smart car network security measures, and established smart car network security for member states The system provides reference suggestions.

　　In January this year, the U.S. government launched the latest policy system "Automatic Driving 4.0" for smart cars at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, establishing the core technical principles of autonomous vehicles, namely, protecting users and groups and promoting the market. The effective operation of the system and the coordination of the work of all parties.

　　The South Korean government released the "National Vision for Future Cars" in October last year, focusing on promoting the development of smart cars and green cars.

Since then, the country's multiple departments jointly issued the "2030 Future Auto Industry Development Strategy", including building an unmanned driving management system and road network system, and promoting the transformation of the auto industry.

In order to promote industrial integration and accelerate the development of smart cars, the State Council of South Korea recently reviewed and approved a proposal that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will establish a new "Future Automobile Industry Section", which is specifically responsible for promoting the integration of related industries, building infrastructure, and relaxing domestic regulations. , Docking international rules and other work.

　　Industrial integration is the future development direction

　　The analysis believes that the development of smart cars in the future will show the intersection and integration of more fields, and industrial integration and collaborative innovation are the keys to the sustainable development of smart cars in the future.

　　Eric-Marc Huytma, secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, believes that a complete smart car system requires the cooperation of artificial intelligence technology, chip calculations, and new perception technologies. Therefore, as smart cars gradually scale Related industries will also usher in development opportunities.

　　From the perspective of infrastructure, smart cars mainly implement applications through sensors, controllers, actuators, and human-computer interaction, and different functions correspond to the corresponding industrial chain.

For example, intelligent hardware such as lidar, high-precision maps, and core software such as algorithms, which are closely related to autonomous driving, will become investment hotspots in the smart car industry chain.

The requirements for high-speed information processing capabilities and intelligent roads will drive a new round of infrastructure investment, including the innovative development of 5G networks.

　　Experts said that in the future, smart cars will not only become the core hub of smart transportation, but will also change the overall pattern of smart energy networks, by driving the coordinated development of related industries, such as automated valet parking business, smart lane construction that supports autonomous driving, and Innovation and development of fully intelligent urban traffic dispatching system.

The French "Le Monde" article pointed out that with the increasing diversity of autonomous driving application scenarios, smart cars will become an important part of new urban infrastructure construction and smart cities.

　　However, the development of smart cars still faces many challenges, including low technological maturity, unclear laws and regulations, and outstanding safety issues.

For example, in the event of a traffic accident in a smart car, it is still unclear whether the person responsible is the passenger or the car manufacturer.

Whether the artificial intelligence in smart cars can fully understand the voices and gestures of police, other drivers, pedestrians, and other safety issues remain to be resolved.

　　Smart cars need to be equipped with smart software and a variety of sensing devices, which means that more information exposure risks and network attack vulnerabilities may pose threats to personal and property safety.

How to incorporate personal data protection into the design stage of smart connected cars and ensure that users are protected in terms of personal privacy is also a major challenge facing the development of smart cars.

　　(Our newspaper Paris, Washington, Seoul, Beijing, November 17th)

　　"People's Daily" (page 16 on November 18, 2020)