China Automobile Industry, Technology (NEV, Driverless, etc): News & Images

[ahojunk]

GM China sales up 5.7% in October
2016-11-05 12:35 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e


General Motors (GM) announced on its website Friday that the U.S. automaker and its joint ventures in China sold record 345,733 vehicles in China in October this year, up 5.7 percent year on year.

Total sales of GM and its joint ventures in China came to more than 3.06 million units in the first 10 months, up 8.6 percent.

Sales of Luxury Cadillac are particularly strong in China, totaling 12,502 units in October, soaring 117.2 percent year on year. The growth of Cadillac sales in China stood at 43 percent in the first 10 months.

Buick sales rose 3.4 percent to 105,071 units; Chevrolet climbed 2 percent to 52,195; Baojun increased 30 percent to 67,169; only Wuling sales dropped 6.9 percent to 108,760 units.

China is GM's largest sales market in the world.

 

[TaiShang]

Baidu to make self-driving cars available to public by 2018
(People's Daily Online) 16:16, November 04, 2016

[File photo]

A self-driving vehicle service will be commercially viable in China by 2018, while the mass production of self-driving cars will be realized within five years, China’s Internet giant Baidu announced on Nov. 3. Currently, 18 car and Internet companies have revealed similar plans, among which Baidu is the leading enterprise.

The remark was made by Wang Jin, senior vice president of Baidu, at the Global Innovator Conference in Beijing. Wang stated that the company is going to test its self-driving cars during the third World Internet Conference, which will be held in Zhejiang province from Nov. 16 to 18.

“We are not going showcase our self-driving cars as models. Instead, they will run on real roads, and we will invite passengers to try our self-driving vehicle service,” Wang told the media, adding that the company’s self-driving cars have already passed one driving test out of five.

Baidu has made significant achievements this year in self-driving technology. The company's self-driving cars now boast accuracy of 90.13 percent when it comes to the recognition of objects, slightly higher than last year’s 89.6 percent. For the recognition of passengers and traffic lights, the vehicles score 95 percent and 99.9 percent respectively, Thepaper.cn reported.

“Though our camera recognition technologies are the best in the world, we still believe that camera recognition is not enough for self-driving cars,” Wang said, adding that the company has been working on laser radar technologies to improve the accuracy of their self-driving vehicles.

***

One of the practical benefits of keeping the established monopolistic foreign internet companies from China's market through state intervention. China now has its own industrial champions.

 

[ahojunk]

Volkswagen to introduce 15 new energy vehicle models in China
2016-11-06 11:45 | Xinhua | Editor: Yao Lan

German automaker Volkswagen has planned to introduce 15 models of new energy vehicles in China that are locally produced, the company said Sunday.

These models will be released in the next three to four years to address the environmental protection needs in Chinese market, Li Xiaoxin, a public relations manager with Volkswagen Group China said in Tianjin, where a joint venture project of the company is under construction.

China is Volkswagen's largest market worldwide. Volkswagen Group China and its two joint ventures delivered 2.85 million automobiles in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong in the first three quarters, up 10.7 percent year on year.

Annual investment in China reached around 4 billion Euros this year, and the volume is expected to be maintained in the next several years.

According to Volkswagen CEO Matthias Muller, digitalization and environmental needs are the major factors that drive the transfer of automobile industry. To adapt to the change, the automaker has planned to introduce 30 models of electric cars by 2025 to the world market.

 

[TaiShang]

China passenger car sales to grow nearly 13 pct: Industry group
Xinhua, November 8, 2016

Passenger car sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, will grow nearly 13 percent this year from a year earlier, data from an industry association showed Tuesday.

Judging from this year's sales trend, sales of passenger and commercial vehicles will increase 10 to 12 percent year on year, according to China Passenger Car Association.

The growth rate is double the estimate of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), another major industry group, which forecast 6-percent growth at the beginning of the year.

Several domestic auto makers said their own brands have become the vital driver of sales and profit growth.

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd. (GAC Group) reported 107.6-percent growth in net profits in the first three quarters, with its own brand GAC Motor contributing the biggest source of profits.

BYD, the country's leading new energy vehicle maker, reported net profits of 3.66 billion yuan (539.8 million U.S. dollars) for the first nine months, up 86.82 percent from the same period in 2015.

SAIC Motor Corp. Ltd. (SAIC Motor), the largest auto company on China's A-share market, registered net profits of 23.09 billion yuan from January to September, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier.

The strong momentum came as the Chinese economy has shown more signs of stabilizing in recent months.

Earlier official data showed China's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 50.4 in September, unchanged from August and staying above the 50-point mark that separates expansion from contraction for the second month in a row.

 

[TaiShang]

China's first driverless cars go for trial run in Wuzhen
(Chinadaily.com.cn) November 08, 2016

Without drivers, cars could move on the roads guided by auto positioning, follow the traffic lights, stop upon seeing pedestrians or barriers, and make turns in line with set routes. Such vehicles will become a reality in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.

Scheduled to make its debut at the World Internet Conference next week, the driverless cars are developed by Baidu Inc and automakers of Chery, BYD and Shou Qi Group. More than a dozen driverless cars will go for a trial run for a total of 5 kilometers on a road in Wuzhen, with the highest speed reaching 60 km per hour.

Wang Jin, senior vice-president of Baidu and general manager of the company's Autonomous Driving Unit, said at a forum last week that Baidu, Google and Uber are the main developers of driverless car technology.

The cameras on Baidu's driverless vehicles have an accuracy of 90.13 percent for judging objects, the highest level in the world. For judgment of pedestrians the accuracy reached 95 percent and for traffic lights 99.9 percent. But the accuracy still needs to improve, Wang added.

Wang said that Baidu's goal is to realize the commercial potential of driverless cars on a small scale in three years. In five years, it hopes to be producing them on a large scale.

Driverless cars will bring tremendous change to the entire auto industry, he said.

 

[TaiShang]

Baidu slips into higher gear in driverless cars
China Daily, November 16, 2016

A driverless car, developed by internet giant Baidu Inc, on display at the Light of the Internet Exposition in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, on Tuesday. The expo, part of the Third World Internet Conference, opened on Nov 15, 2016. [Photo/China Daliy]


With each passing year, the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, appears to evolve, in terms of wowing audiences and media with unprecedented, unexpected experiences.

Last year, Baidu Inc showcased its driverless car in an exhibition. The event was made memorable by Baidu CEO Robin Li, who stood next to the vehicle and, wielding a microphone with elan, introduced its features.

This year, the Wuzhen event took the art of audience-wowing to a whole new level. Media and participants were provided real-life rides in driverless vehicles. Hand it to Baidu's rapid progress in the development of new tech.

China Daily reporters took one such ride. The car was dextrous in driving itself all right. Not only was the ride smooth but precise. Its sensors accurately identified all parts of the traffic and mapped out a safe path for the car to take. The ride was so normal it took us a while to realize the car was actually driving itself, without any intervention from Baidu's staff members.

The demonstration marks Baidu's first attempt at operating driverless cars in real-life traffic situations. During the R&D phase, the Beijing-based company had carried out several road tests in China and abroad, and operated the vehicles in closed pilot zones.

Baidu has been fine-tuning its driverless technologies since late last year. It sees tremendous opportunities for artificial intelligence to reshape the traditional automobile industry.

It has announced an ambitious plan for small-scale commercialization of driverless cars in the next three years and mass production by 2021.

Wang Jin, senior vice-president and general manager of the autonomous driving unit of Baidu, said at a recent conference in Beijing that the company has made good progress in autonomous driving technology.

"The accuracy rate of cameras used to identify vehicles (on the road) is 90.13 percent now, a world record. Same time last year, it was 89.6 percent. The technology of identifying pedestrians is 95 percent accurate and that of recognizing traffic signals is 99.9 percent accurate," he said, adding Baidu will continue to strive for 100 percent accuracy.

Earlier this year, Baidu and Ford Motor Co made a multimillion-dollar investment in a major US producer of lidar sensors, a key technology that helps driverless cars "see" their surrounding environment.

The autonomous driverless technology Baidu is betting on is certainly the most complicated one, which requires several breakthroughs in technology. But many other Chinese tech companies chose to use a less "disruptive" approach to enter the automobile industry with "smarter" cars that are not smart enough to drive themselves.

In July, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd launched an internet-linked car with several advanced features. A real-time navigation system can offer relief to the driver from staring at smartphone-based navigation tools.

 

[TaiShang]

China's NextEV unveils new electric supercar in UK

China Daily, November 22, 2016

​

China's NextEV unveiled an all-electric supercar in London, Nov 21, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]


China's NextEV unveiled an all-electric supercar in London with which it aims to challenge high-speed models made by established carmakers such as Ferrari's LaFerrari, McLaren's P1, and Porsche's 918.

The 313 kilometres per hour car, which will be designed and manufactured in the UK, was unveiled at a ceremony in London's Saatchi Gallery.

"We are the first electric car with proven track racing performance, but it is built with the look of a luxury car. Therefore we are bridging the gap between performance car and cars in everyday life," said David Hilton, Senior Design Director of NextEV.

NextEV was founded in 2014 in Shanghai, with strong backing from China's Internet tycoons. Its founding investors include Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, as well as Richard Liu Qiangdong, chairman and CEO of JD.com, Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun, and Li Xiang, founder of automotive portal autohome.com.cn.

The new vehicle, call the EP9, is being built in the UK, and is already on sale. The factory location is secret and no mention of any investment amount was made at today's launch.

There will be six cars in the first batch, of which three have already been built. All six will be shipped to China and will go on sale with a production cost of $1.2 million. The price of the car was not revealed。

China's NextEV unveiled an all-electric supercar in London, Nov 21, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

 

[TaiShang]

Chinese car market shows extremely strong growth in 2016
Xinhua, December 3, 2016

The Chinese car market showed extremely strong growth in 2016, growing by 15 percent year-on-year, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) reported here on Friday.

"We have raised our China forecast again and now expect a volume of 23.1 million units," VDA president Matthias Wissmann said at the annual press conference, adding that the Chinese car market was expected to grow by a further 5.0 percent to 24.2 million in 2017.

According to VDA, the car market in Western Europe will grow by 5.0 percent to 13.9 million units in 2016, while there will be 17.1 million new cars on the U.S. roads this year.

In addition, a total of 83.6 million new cars will be sold worldwide in 2017, up by 2.0 percent from this year.

 

[TaiShang]

Dongfeng Honda builds new plant in central China
Xinhua, December 8, 2016

Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., a 50-50 joint venture between China's Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Japan's Honda Motor Co., broke ground on a new factory in central China Thursday.

The new factory in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, will produce passenger cars in 2019.

With investment of 5.5 billion yuan (800 million U.S. dollars),the plant is the third one to be built by Honda and Dongfeng.

The new factory will initially produce 120,000 cars a year, including new-energy vehicles. Its annual capacity will eventually increase to 240,000, according to a statement from Dongfeng Honda.

Auto sales in China strengthened this year as fresh models were released to attract young and middle-class consumers. Sales of Dongfeng-Honda grew 47.8 percent to 520,000 units in the January-November period thanks to the popularity of the XR-V sport-utility vehicle, the Civic sedan and the Elysion MPV.

The venture has raised its 2016 sales target twice to the current 560,000 units despite its annual capacity limits of 512,000 at the two current factories in Wuhan, which have been in production since 2004 and 2012.

Honda also has a joint venture with GAC Group called Guangqi Honda. Located in the southern city of Guangzhou, it produces the Accord sedan and the Odyssey MPV, to name but a few.

Honda aims to increase sales in China to 1.07 million cars this year. It sold 1.01 million vehicles in 2015, a 32.5-percent rise from the previous year.

 

[ahojunk]

China set to drive global auto sales in 2017
2016-12-09 09:14 | Shanghai Daily | Editor: Huang Mingrui

China will continue to be the most important growth driver of the global auto industry in 2017 as it is this year, while new-energy vehicles and smart connected cars are set to become hot in the next decade in the domestic market, a report said yesterday.

Sales in China's auto market are likely to jump 14 percent year on year in 2016, PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted in the report.

Rick Hanna, PwC's global automotive leader, said grants for new-energy vehicle purchases and tax exemptions have made China the "most important growth driver" for the global auto market.

Peter Fleet, vice president of marketing, sales and services at Ford Asia-Pacific, echoed Hanna's view and hailed the tax policy as a "very important factor" that boosted sales of Ford China. Ford and its joint ventures in China sold more than 1 million vehicles in the first 11 months of 2016. Its monthly sales hit 124,113 vehicles in November alone, up 17 percent year on year.

Last year, new-energy vehicle sales in China tripled that of the previous year to 330,000 units to top other markets globally. As subsidies are set to continue, the annual assembly of new-energy vehicles may exceed 1.85 million units by 2022, or up 28 percent annually on average between 2015 and 2022, according to PwC.

 

[TaiShang]

China's richest man invests in new-energy vehicles
By Tian Shi (People's Daily Online) December 16, 2016

Wanda’s Wang Jianlin, along with the chairman of Gree, Dong Mingzhu, and three other entrepreneurs, signed a $3 billion RMB capital increase agreement with Zhuhai Yinlong for cooperation in the new-energy auto-making industry.

Among the five investors, China International Marine Containers (CIMC) Group will pour 200 million RMB of capital into developing jointly with Zhuhai Yinlong, a Chinese green energy solution provider, in areas of new-energy trucks, airport shuttle buses and cars, along with parking lot charging stations.

The cooperation with Zhuhai Yinlong is Wanda’s first move into the manufacturing industry, according to Wang, chairman of real-estate developer Wanda Group and the richest man in China.

“Yinlong offers a great advantage for energy storage,” the chairman said. “If we could commercialize its green technology properly, the market value will double.”

The boom in China’s electric car sales has been developing since China surpassed the U.S. to become the largest new-energy vehicle market in the world. The substantial incentives offered to EV buyers in China no doubt played a large part in the growth.

 

[TaiShang]

ZTE to make electric vehicles
China Daily, December 22, 2016

ZTE to make electric vehicles [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp will produce electric vehicles by the end of next year, with an annual output of 30,000 units.

The company recently acquired leading bus manufacturer and supplier Zhuhai Guangtong Automobile Co.

"ZTE has already mastered key technologies in wireless charging, connected cars and autonomous driving. We are now mainly manufacturing electric buses and planning to launch the R&D and apply for a license for passenger vehicles next year," said a brand manager at ZTE Smart Auto, a subsidiary of ZTE, who declined to give his name.

He disclosed that the company is building a new manufacturing base in Zhuhai, also to be its global headquarters and R&D center, expecting to mass-produce the electric vehicles by the end of next year, adding that electric vehicles are a strategic project of ZTE.

In July, ZTE acquired Zhuhai Guangtong to enter the electric vehicle industry, concentrating on R&D, design and manufacturing of electric vehicles, and the application of connected cars, big data, autonomous driving and cloud centers, according to a statement issued by the company.

ZTE Smart Auto has already developed several vehicle models, including luxury coaches, double-decker buses, 12-meter tourist buses and city express buses, said the statement.

The products are sold to Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Israel, Thailand and Vietnam.

Furthermore, ZTE secured an order for 204 eight-meter-long electric buses and intelligent charging support service from Shenzhen Westernbus Co Ltd earlier this month.

The company said it will continue to expand its core technological advantages in vehicle manufacturing and wireless charging, and provide intelligent traffic solutions and services.

"ZTE has some advantages in the telecoms business, internet of things and smart city, and possesses government and enterprises customers' resources," said James Yan, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research.

Yan said these technology advantages and abundant customers' resources are beneficial for ZTE to branch into the electric vehicle field, adding he is optimistic about ZTE's development in electric vehicles in the future by virtue of strong policy support from the government.

The government expects that cumulative sales of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will reach 5 million units by 2020.

Last year, sales of new energy vehicles more than tripled to more than 331,000 units in China, including more than 247,000 pure electric cars and 83,600 plug-in hybrids, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

 

[TaiShang]

Robots used in automobile production line
China.org.cn, December 23, 2016

​

Robots and workers work together in producing electric vehicles in a new-energy auto factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

@Shotgunner51 , @Echo_419

Pictures sum up the present condition (and dilemma) well. High automation with China becoming the largest (aggregate, not per capita) automated country, but, the domestic content is low.

I think this is now the core of the challenge.

 

[Shotgunner51]

@Shotgunner51 , @Echo_419

Pictures sum up the present condition (and dilemma) well. High automation with China becoming the largest (aggregate, not per capita) automated country, but, the domestic content is low.

I think this is now the core of the challenge.

Yes, China is the largest user of industrial robotics with 300,000+ units operating now, but you are right about those two challenges ahead:

1. It's aggregate, but still low on density (only 36 per 10,000 workers; world's highest is South Korea at 478 per 10,000 workers). I expect Chinese manufacturing to continue adding robotics, the target is 4 times existing density, reaching 150 per 10,000 workers in 2020.
2. As you see "Kawasaki" in the pic, China still rely heavily on imports. Note Kawasaki is not the robotics Big4: Fanuc, Yaskawa, Kuka AG, ABB. The good news is Chinese robotics industry is developing fast, both organically and through M&A (e.g. Midea purchased Kuka AG), I expect China to drastically reduce reliance on imports in a decade.

 

[Echo_419]

Robots used in automobile production line
China.org.cn, December 23, 2016

​

Robots and workers work together in producing electric vehicles in a new-energy auto factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

​

Robots work on wielding vehicles in a new-energy automobile manufacturing factory in Huichuan District of Zunyi, Guizhou Province, on Dec. 20, 2016. [Photo by Luo Xinghan/China.com.cn]

@Shotgunner51 , @Echo_419

Pictures sum up the present condition (and dilemma) well. High automation with China becoming the largest (aggregate, not per capita) automated country, but, the domestic content is low.

I think this is now the core of the challenge.

Automation will not have an easy run in countries like India, Pakistan (Human Resource rich countries) etc