Promote the infrastructure construction of vehicle networking and guide the coordinated development of industrial innovation … At the beginning of the new year, the Decision of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee on Promoting the Development of Vehicle Networking and Intelligent Networked Vehicles was officially implemented. Previously, Wuxi and Suzhou began to implement policies to promote the development of the Internet of Vehicles in March and December 2023, respectively. In recent years, Jiangsu has vigorously developed the car networking and intelligent networked automobile industry, and continuously expanded the scope of road testing and demonstration applications. At present, what is the development of the car networking and intelligent networked automobile industry in the province? How far is it from commercialization?
The ecosystem is constantly improving,
"Internet of Vehicles" and "Networked Vehicles" blossomed more.
AR real-time monitoring of road congestion, pedestrians crossing the road monitoring and early warning, unmanned automatic parking … Entering Wuxi car networking town, smart car networking application scenarios are frequently seen. In Xishan District, Wuxi City, where the town is located, a self-driving minibus with cool appearance shuttles flexibly through the traffic at an average speed of 35-40 kilometers per hour every day.
Zhen Hongbo, general manager of Wuxi Car Networking Town, Nanshan, China, introduced that lidar and cameras all over the self-driving minibus help the vehicle to look around in a 360-degree view. Up to now, the self-driving minibus has accumulated a mileage of 458,300 kilometers on three routes in the region, and has connected 48,800 passengers.
Smart cars ride on the "smart road". Every day, there are all kinds of smart driving vehicles running and testing here in Tiancheng Road, the new south of Suzhou High-speed Railway, including L4-class self-driving unmanned minibus, small unmanned delivery vehicle and self-cleaning unmanned sanitation vehicle … At present, Suzhou High-speed Railway New Town has built 250 kilometers of intelligent networked test roads, and deployed over 1,100 sets of side equipment, opening up intelligent networked vehicle road test and demonstration applications all over the world.
"Jiangsu’s testing and application of intelligent networked vehicles has already taken the lead in the country." Dai Yifan, director of Jiangsu Intelligent Networked Vehicle Innovation Center, introduced that a number of demonstration application scenarios of intelligent networked vehicles, such as taxis, buses and special work vehicles, have landed in Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi and other cities and achieved large-scale commercial applications.
Outside the car road, there is no shortage of cloud links. In September, 2023, the shared information screen at the rear of Changshu No.135 bus changed quietly, and the application scenes such as traffic light timing, front image information and road guidance were displayed in real time when the vehicle was driving. Steven Yang, chairman of Jiangsu Tianan Zhilian Technology Co., Ltd. told the reporter that the V2X vehicle-road collaborative vehicle networking system developed by the company was installed on the bus. "With the help of roadside cameras, radars, laser integrated machines and other sensing devices, vehicles can accurately identify pedestrians and non-motor vehicles around them, and prevent’ ghost probe’ traffic accidents."
Qi Yong, director of the Jiangsu Intelligent Transportation and Vehicle Networking Engineering Research Center and a professor at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, said that the intelligent vehicle networking industry includes not only the intellectualization and networking of automobiles themselves, but also the intellectualization and informationization of infrastructure such as roads. "At this stage, the development of the intelligent vehicle networking industry needs to be promoted in a way of’ vehicle-road coordination’, and it is necessary to simultaneously coordinate’ smart cars’,’ smart roads’ and’ powerful clouds’ to achieve three goals.
In Jiangsu, the whole industrial chain ecosystem covering "cars", "roads" and "clouds" is constantly improving. According to statistics, in 2022, there were more than 700 intelligent networked cars and car networking enterprises in the province, with an operating income of more than 140 billion yuan, forming a relatively complete industrial chain covering intelligent vehicles and parts and information interaction systems. The development level of high-performance computing chips, autonomous driving software algorithms, testing and verification, and car networking facilities and equipment is leading the country. At the same time, the province has built the most extensive car networking infrastructure in China, achieving large-scale coverage in the whole urban area of Wuxi and key urban areas such as Nanjing, Suzhou and Changzhou.
"Smart car" is the core element of the industry.
Bicycle intelligence still lacks revolutionary breakthrough
The industrial system of intelligent car networking is generally composed of intelligent networked cars and car networking. At present, the construction of related industrial systems can be regarded as the organic integration of the technology markets of vehicles, roads and clouds.
Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to promote the development of strategic emerging industries integration clusters. Qi Yong said that this has provided a fundamental basis for the construction of the intelligent vehicle networking industry system. "It is a typical integrated strategic emerging industrial cluster to organically graft sensors, computers, big data and artificial intelligence, promote the construction of major projects and characteristic industrial parks, and create an innovative cluster of intelligent vehicle networking industries."
"Because vehicle companies are directly oriented to consumers, the technology market of cars is the largest, and its proportion in the whole industrial system even exceeds 50%." Dai Yifan believes that even the key core technologies involved in intelligent networked vehicles account for the largest proportion among cars, roads and clouds. "Although the coordinated promotion of’ road’ and’ cloud’ is essential, it includes technologies in the fields of driverless, sensors, controllers, chips, algorithms, etc., and technical research for bicycle intelligence is at a more core position in the construction of the entire industrial system."
Focusing on bicycle intelligence, in recent years, various technical research and testing have been intensively promoted in many places in the province. However, the intelligent networked vehicle technology is mature and there is still a long way to go. "It may take 8-10 years to really develop into the driverless stage and get consumer recognition." Dai Yifan said.
What’s the difficulty? According to Xiang Junping, deputy general manager of China Ship Lianyungang Jerry Electronics Co., Ltd., strictly speaking, as long as the vehicle is not equipped with OBU before leaving the factory and cannot be interconnected with RSU on the road, it cannot be called "intelligent networked vehicle".
"In fact, because the bicycle intelligent technology is not mature enough and the road side is not intelligent enough, there are not many scenes for the interaction between cars and roads. At present, the cost performance of installing in-vehicle units is relatively low, which leads to the weak willingness of car companies and the low acceptance of consumers." Xiang Junping revealed that the cost of a vehicle-mounted unit device generally needs several thousand yuan. If it is installed before leaving the factory, it will undoubtedly increase the cost of the vehicle and push up the price of the whole vehicle. However, the automobile market involving bicycle intelligence is a completely competitive market, and the technical iteration is mainly driven by the enterprise R&D department. The limited power of car companies makes it difficult to mass-produce vehicles, although there are objectively test and application vehicles; Although there are technological upgrades, there are few revolutionary breakthroughs.
Change "car watching lights" to "car watching lights",
"Smart Road" urgently needs more traffic data.
In Jiang Xinzhou, the unmanned minibus sightseeing bus has been put into use. In the test section, the vehicle will keep driving at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, and automatically follow the car, turn, wait for traffic lights and pass the intersection according to real-time traffic information. All of this is based on the intelligent transformation of infrastructure in related roads.
It is very important to guide "smart cars" with "smart roads". "When the bicycle intelligence matures, it will also encounter the’ ceiling’, and there will still be a’ perceived blind spot’ in the vehicle sensor." Ben Wei, deputy general manager of Nanjing Rice Network Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. told reporters that installing roadside unit facilities on roads can form interconnection with vehicle-mounted units, thus reducing safety hazards and improving travel efficiency.
In fact, the "smart road" is not only to provide technical assistance for "smart cars", but also to build an insurance to promote the development of the entire industrial system.
What should the "road of wisdom" look like in the future? "In the short term, we should also focus on empowering the existing traffic management model. When most vehicles realize intelligent networking in the future, the traffic control method can be profoundly changed. " For example, Ben Wei said, like traffic lights, the ultimate expectation of road intelligence is to change from "watching the lights by cars" to "watching the cars by lights". "By increasing the means of perception on the road, dynamically adjusting the release time of intersections is equivalent to arranging a highly intelligent intersection traffic commander."
However, due to the lack of intelligence and the low road coverage of intelligent network connection, except for some sections of the relevant pilot area and pilot area, the current "car watching lights" is still the mainstream, and the phenomenon of "empty waiting" and "empty flying" at intersections is still common.
"At the moment, we are gradually getting through the information of car sections and road sections." Zhen Hongbo said that when the vehicle drives to Xidong Business District and Xishan District, where roadside equipment has been rebuilt, it will take a few seconds to hear the navigation warning red light. Once this area is opened, you will not experience the "green wave" reminder.
In the interview, some insiders mentioned that the cost of roadside reconstruction is very high, and the industry is in its infancy, many standards are not unified, and many products still have the possibility of continuous iteration, which also delays the progress of road intelligent reconstruction.
Technology is one aspect, and a lot of traffic data is needed to build a networked road. The person in charge of the relevant enterprise told the reporter that the right to use traffic data belongs to the traffic control department and cannot be opened to enterprises providing technology.
Ben Wei said that in fact, car companies also have demands for purchasing data. "Many’ new forces to build cars’ have designed the smart cockpit of their own cars to be’ tall’, but the intelligent display function of traffic lights has not been connected to the operating system that comes with the car." Some car owners admitted to Benwei that at present, Gaode and Baidu rely on the data of floating cars to calculate the countdown seconds of traffic lights, and its accuracy is not high enough. I hope to get more and more accurate road data before opening relevant functions to car owners. "For example, push the status of traffic lights directly to the dashboard or even put them on the car head-up display."
To realize these ideas, resources on one side of the road need to be more open. But in this process, how to ensure the security of public data transaction and use? Xiang Junping introduced that the current car operating system is generally connected to the Internet, while traffic data is connected to the public security intranet, and the two are not connected. "In recent years, China has developed technology in a targeted manner. By building a private network of cellular car networking, it has realized the safe and dynamic interaction of road data between on-board units and roadside units."
Multi-party efforts to build industrial clusters,
Let the car network "be useful and easy to use"
The development of car networking industry is advancing from testing and verification to multi-scenario demonstration application and commercial trial operation, and it is timely to strengthen legislative guidance.
"Decision on Promoting the Development of Vehicle Networking and Intelligent Networked Vehicles" combines the structural needs of industrial development, encourages and supports the upstream and downstream cooperation of the industrial chain, and establishes a multi-level industrial technology innovation system. Experts in the industry pointed out that it is imperative to promote the coordinated development of industrial innovation after realizing the coverage of the entire industrial chain of intelligent networked vehicles.
In terms of building the industrial chain of car networking, all regions and cities in our province have their own strengths. Nanjing has its own comparative advantages in vehicle and vehicle software, Changzhou in power battery and vehicle manufacturing, Wuxi in vehicle networking and smart transportation, Suzhou in intelligent networked vehicle key parts, Yancheng in automobile testing and verification, Xuzhou in construction machinery and other fields. Experts suggest further exploring differentiated development paths and forming regional industrial clusters with their own characteristics and complementary advantages.
National and provincial car networking pilot areas are actively building a complete industrial chain ecology. Since its official opening in August 2022, Wuxi Car Networking Town has gathered more than 100 innovative enterprises such as Bosch Intelligent Networking, Gaoxian Robot and Tianan Zhilian, covering new platforms, intelligent roadsides, intelligent driving, commercial testing and other fields.
In Suzhou High-speed Railway New Town, more than 180 car networking related enterprises gather here. Wang Jiali, Chairman of Pioneer (Suzhou) Digital Industry Investment Co., Ltd. introduced that in recent years, the company has successively attracted a number of key projects, covering more than 30 sub-sectors such as software algorithms, simulation testing and travel services.
Emerging industries need standards to regulate and guide them. The five local standards issued by Suzhou at the end of 2023 focus on low-speed small unmanned sweepers, unmanned express vehicles, cloud control basic platforms, intelligent networked intersections, etc., covering many fields. Qiu Yifei, director of DICT transportation industry of Suzhou Branch of China Mobile Communications Group Jiangsu Co., Ltd., said, "We have made requirements on the basic composition and basic functions of intelligent network junction. For example, the signal light data of intelligent network junction should support viewing real-time light status, countdown seconds, support signal light data distribution, and will continue to improve the standards of construction requirements and management requirements."
"To develop the smart car networking industry, it is necessary to promote the forces of all parties to move in the opposite direction under the guidance of the government." In Qi Yong’s view, to build an intelligent car networking industry system in the province, we must first base ourselves on the key high-tech industrial parks in the province and the national independent innovation demonstration zone in southern Jiangsu, conform to the coordinated development trend of the intelligent car networking industry in our province and the Yangtze River Delta region, and sort out the key core common technologies and key enterprises in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the industrial chain. Specifically, the government should formulate a long-term industrial development plan, compile a technology roadmap, and introduce industrial policies to promote incentives and strengthen guidance; The park should vigorously cultivate and introduce chain owners and backbone enterprises; Enterprises should increase investment in research and development, strengthen key core technology research and development of application scenarios, and promote industrial development by mining typical scenarios; At the industry level, it is necessary to strengthen the cooperation between the upper, middle and lower reaches of the industrial chain, give full play to the advantages of the collaborative research system, and focus on cultivating strategic emerging industry integration clusters to enhance industrial competitiveness.
