Intelligent cars: The future of transportation

Getting intelligent connected vehicles to be more widely applied in China’s automobile market will be essential to helping the industry progress in the future, experts emphasized during a sub-forum on Sept 25 that is part of the four-day Pujiang Innovation Forum.

The forum, which takes place in Shanghai every year, aims to promote innovation by building a platform to facilitate the exchange of new ideas in various industries.

“Intelligent connected vehicles are at the forefront of scientific and industrial development. Technologies related to automobile intelligentization and connectedness are turning the world into a smarter and greener planet,” said George Crabtree, director of the joint center for energy storage research at Argonne National Laboratory in the United States.

Crabtree and his team have carried out a series of research projects on how companies can reduce the cost and boost the lifespan of lithium battery. They are aiming to increase battery capacity by five times while lowering the cost to just 20 percent of the current amount.

“In the future, the customer is going to pay for automated mobility services instead of owning a car which will feature an electrical engine that offers high performance at a low cost,” said Crabtree.

“Automated driving” was the catch phrase throughout most of the speeches during the forum, with many believing that it represents the future of driving.

“Automated driving is a revolution in progress. In the near future we will be able to drive an electric car with a totally automated system that can determine the routes to take, find parking lots and complete the parking process,” said Renaud Bonhomme, director of Bosch Chassis Systems Control (China).

China is one of the largest automakers in the world and many regions and enterprises have already made plans to be involved in intelligent connected vehicles.

Zebra Information Technology, a joint venture between SAIC Motor and e-commerce giant Alibaba, is one example of how companies are working together to integrate the Internet and intelligent automobile.

In June, the company launched the Roewe RX5, the world’s first Internet-connected SUV, setting a new milestone in the intelligent connected vehicle industry.

“The significance of intelligent connected vehicles not only lies in the upgrading of automobile products and technologies, but also in the reshaping of the overall structure and value chain of the automobile and related industries,” said Hao Fei, deputy general manager of Zebra Information Technology Co Ltd.

“We are making internet-connected cars not just to solve driving problems, but to incorporate the automobile into our smart way of life.”

yuran@chinadaily.com.cn