This time, it is no longer self-driving car companies adapting to the "old order."
Recently, the Ministry of Transport issued a solicitation for the "Overall Technical Specifications for Highway Engineering Ancillary Facilities Adapted to Autonomous Driving (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft Technical Specifications for Autonomous Driving Highways"), starting from the top-level design It has set standards and directions for building dedicated highways for autonomous driving. This means that China’s first national standard for autonomous driving highways is about to be released.
The Highway Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport stated that my country’s autonomous driving has entered the early stage of industrialization and new standards and requirements are needed in highway engineering. The proposal of the "Opinion Draft on Technical Specifications for Autonomous Driving Highways" will kick off the digitization of roads, and autonomous driving will be one step closer to actually being put on the road.
"New Regulations" are about to be born
In September 2019, the "Outline for Building a Powerful Transportation Country" issued by the State Council clearly stated that it will strengthen the development of intelligent connected vehicles (intelligent Automobiles, autonomous driving, vehicle-road collaboration) research and development, forming an independent and controllable complete industrial chain, and developing a new generation of intelligent transportation management systems, promoting the application of intelligent detection, monitoring and operation and maintenance technology of transportation equipment, and building a ubiquitous advanced transportation information foundation facility.
Today, the "Draft of Technical Specifications for Autonomous Driving Highways" specifies the high-precision maps, positioning facilities, communication facilities, traffic signs and markings, traffic control and guidance facilities, traffic sensing facilities, roadside facilities required for autonomous driving. Computing facilities, functions and lighting facilities, autonomous driving monitoring and service centers, network security and other fields have been standardized, paving the way for autonomous driving driving conditions in a comprehensive and detailed manner.
▲Schematic diagram of dedicated lanes for autonomous driving
It is understood that in addition to the three universities of Chang'an, Tsinghua, and Tongji, the units participating in the preparation of the draft include Huawei, Baidu, Alibaba, and Gao Technology giants such as Dehe Qianxun are also involved. It can be seen from the participating companies that the "Draft Technical Specifications for Autonomous Driving Highways" will cover all aspects of the technologies required for smart transportation and will be able to meet the conditions for autonomous vehicles to drive on the road independently. According to the Highway Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, the current technical requirements for highway engineering ancillary facilities are mainly based on human physiological and psychological characteristics, and are determined with the goal of ensuring the safety and smooth driving of human-driven vehicles on the road.
Just on April 27, official media reported that China’s first “super highway”-the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Smart Expressway currently under construction has dedicated lanes for autonomous driving, and this “super highway” The construction plan was prepared by the Highway Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, with the purpose of exploring smart highways. It is planned to be officially opened to traffic in 2022 and take the lead in serving the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022. In addition, according to the plan, the total investment for this 174-kilometer highway is about 70.7 billion, with an investment intensity of more than 400 million per kilometer.
Driven by the first "super highway" and the "Draft of Technical Specifications for Autonomous Driving Highways", a large-scale construction of autonomous highways will begin, and "intelligent highways" will will become the focus of road construction.
A "feast" on a scale of tens of trillions
Under the guidance of the "new infrastructure", the country has opened a "green channel", and various places have automatically The driving field and its new infrastructure construction are accelerating the layout and implementation.
For example, in Changsha, Hunan, citizens can already call Apollo Robotaxi through Baidu Maps. No human intervention is required while the car is driving, and each car is currently equipped with a safety officer; on April 27, Amap Taxi Hai announced that it is cooperating with AutoX and will launch a Robotaxi experience recruitment campaign in Shanghai in the near future. Shanghai has become the third city after Guangzhou and Changsha to have Robotaxi "on the road".
With the deepening of national policies, more and more cities are opening up Robotaxi road tests, which are actually paving the way for autonomous driving.
At the same time, with the release of the "Draft of Technical Specifications for Autonomous Driving Highways", the application of autonomous driving technology in the industry will be fully launched, including high-precision maps, positioning facilities, communication facilities, traffic sensing facilities, and autonomous driving monitoring and service centers. , network security and other fields will release huge market space and vitality.
According to McKinsey’s 2019 data report, China’s autonomous driving scale will exceed one trillion U.S. dollars, and it has the potential to become the world’s largest autonomous vehicle market and will increase the liquidity of China’s autonomous vehicle industry. An increase of at least $60 billion. In McKinsey's baseline forecast, autonomous vehicles could account for 66% of passenger kilometers in 2040, generating $1.1 trillion in market revenue from mobility services. And driven by "new infrastructure", this may be a "feast" that can reach a market size of tens of trillions.
Currently, Baidu Apollo, Pony.ai, WeRide and other autonomous driving-related companies are testing autonomous driving of passenger cars by providing RoboTaxi services to the public. Companies such as Zhijia Technology and TuSimple are the first to conduct commercial self-driving heavy truck tests in ports and other places. In addition, traditional car companies such as SAIC and Dongfeng Motor are also embracing the "new future" through cooperation with companies such as Huawei, Pony.ai, and WeRide.
In terms of high-precision maps, currently 20 companies in my country have obtained the "Class A Navigation Electronic Map Production Qualification" awarded by the state, including Huawei, Baidu, Amap, NavInfo, etc. Judging from the current competitive landscape, the three giants BAT have basically completed their staking campaign in the map market, forming a tripartite situation of AutoNavi (acquired by Alibaba), Baidu, and NavInfo (Tencent Holdings).
In addition, communication equipment manufacturers represented by Huawei, ZTE, Datang, etc.; autonomous driving monitoring and service centers acted by cloud service providers such as Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud; traffic sensing facilities led by Baidu Players such as and roadside computing facilities are accelerating their implementation.
With the introduction of national standards for autonomous driving highways, it will surely set off an upsurge in autonomous driving highway construction in more regions, which will bring great convenience to autonomous driving road tests and even commercialization. . At the same time, as infrastructure continues to improve and vehicles become more intelligent, it will also promote the development of the domestic autonomous driving industry. As stated by the Highway Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, my country's autonomous driving has entered the early stage of industrialization, large-scale autonomous driving operations are imminent, and the realization of fully autonomous vehicles is not far away.