China and the United States compete in autonomous driving, 5G may become the "decisive factor"!

With the rise of autonomous driving technology and the development of the market, more and more countries have entered this "track". At present, in the field of autonomous driving, the United States still maintains a certain advantage, but China is catching up closely, and Japan, South Korea, Singapore and many European countries are also continuing to increase the intensity and breadth of their layout in an attempt to get a piece of the pie. Today, the competition surrounding the autonomous driving car industry has reached a white-hot stage.

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Among all international players, the United States and China are undoubtedly the two with greater strength and more favorable prospects. The United States has a solid automobile industry foundation and strong scientific and technological strength. Its autonomous driving companies are in the leading position in terms of technical strength and are also at the forefront in terms of commercialization. China, on the other hand, has a large-scale automobile industry system, a complete manufacturing industry chain, and extraordinary technical strength of start-ups and leading companies. It is also rapidly advancing in road testing and commercialization.

It can be said that in the future, the top spot in the field of autonomous driving will most likely belong to one of the two countries, China and the United States. According to relevant statistics, by 2038, the global autonomous driving market will exceed the $100 billion mark. Therefore, it is expected that China and the United States will further compete in the promising industry of autonomous driving, and the key to winning may be the rapidly emerging 5G network.

The United States continues to increase its investment in autonomous driving

In the past two years, China has emerged as a new force in the field of autonomous driving, and has made significant progress in legislation, infrastructure construction, policy support, and commercial applications. Faced with China's rapid catch-up, the United States has become increasingly anxious and has begun to increase its investment in the development of the autonomous driving industry, trying every means to maintain its current position.

In early 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that the White House and the Department of Transportation jointly launched and proposed the Autonomous Driving 4.0 plan. According to this plan, the United States will accelerate the legislative process in the field of autonomous driving and continue to increase funding to ensure the country's technological leadership in the field of autonomous driving. Previously, the U.S. Department of Transportation had released two plans, "Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety" and "Preparing for Future Transportation: Autonomous Driving Vehicles 3.0".

The release of this new plan shows the anxiety of the United States on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also shows the intention of the United States to strive to maintain its advantage in the field of autonomous driving. It must be said that with its strong scientific, industrial and financial strength, it is indeed difficult for the United States to be surpassed by other players in the development of the autonomous driving industry, but for China, we also have many advantages of our own, and opportunities still exist.

China's advantages in developing autonomous driving

It is impossible for any country to easily surpass the powerful United States. However, relatively speaking, if we talk about who has the opportunity to surpass the United States, China is certainly at the forefront. In the competition and comparison with the United States in the field of autonomous driving, China has many unique advantages, which are an important basis for catching up.

First, Chinese consumers’ recognition. Since China is a latecomer in economic and social development compared to Western countries, the domestic public is often more receptive to new things. According to statistics from US research institutions, Chinese car consumers are more receptive to autonomous driving and have a stronger willingness to buy, while US and European consumers are more passive, with only a few willing to trust autonomous driving.

Second, the huge size of the Chinese market. As the world's leading automobile market, China is also considered an important market for self-driving cars. According to industry experts, as China's traditional and new energy vehicle ownership keep pace, the future commercial use of self-driving cars will be conducive to cultivating a large consumer group. At the same time, China's developed shared travel network is also an important market for self-driving cars.

The third is the improvement of China's industrial chain. With the rise of self-driving cars, more and more domestic companies are participating in this "carnival". At present, Internet companies, travel companies and self-driving start-ups including Baidu, Didi, and Pony.ai are rapidly deploying, and domestic traditional car brands are also choosing to cooperate or participate in the development of self-driving. At present, China has deployed in the links of the industrial chain such as self-driving software, lidar, high-precision maps, cameras, and chips. The perfect industrial system will bring greater help to international competition.

5G may be the key to success

For self-driving cars, safety is the first priority if they are to be commercialized on a large scale. If the safety of self-driving cars on the road cannot be guaranteed, the market growth will be out of the question. And if self-driving cars are to be highly safe, they need to work hard on hardware and software such as radar, cameras, and processing systems, and also build a smooth and fast intelligent network system.

Specifically, the large-scale use of self-driving cars on the road must solve the problems of vehicle-road collaboration, human-vehicle coordination, and vehicle-to-vehicle communication, ensuring that each self-driving car can collect and transmit information with relevant road infrastructure smoothly, and that the information exchange with other self-driving cars is also smooth. In this case, self-driving cars can obtain more accurate road information and make more timely and prepared intelligent decisions.

To achieve this goal, the key lies in the construction of networking. The main problem of networking is communication, and 5G, as a new generation of communication technology, has multiple advantages such as low latency, large capacity, and high speed, which can well meet the strict requirements of autonomous driving vehicles in networking. Therefore, relying on its advantages in 5G construction, China may be able to achieve a reversal and win the battle for autonomous driving.