▲ China's global autonomous driving market (Image source: Research And Markets)

Baidu to add 200 more driverless autonomous vehicles by 2023
Pony.ai Receives License to Test Autonomous Vehicles on Roads in Beijing

An analysis has been published that China will account for more than 50% of the global autonomous driving market by 2030 thanks to proactive efforts by companies and government support.

Following Precedence Research's prediction that the global autonomous driving market size would reach $1.8 trillion in 2030, Research and Markets predicted that the Chinese autonomous driving market size would reach $98.89 billion in 2030.

This means that China accounts for more than half of the global market.

Research And Markets predicts that China's autonomous driving market, which recorded $1.53 billion in 2021, will grow rapidly with a compound annual growth rate of 58.9%, and that growth in the Level 3 autonomous driving sector will drive growth in particular.

Behind the scenes are aggressive investments by Chinese autonomous driving companies and government support.

Representative Chinese autonomous driving companies are Baidu and Pony.ai.

Baidu announced last month that it will add 200 unmanned autonomous vehicles by 2023 to create the world's largest unmanned autonomous driving service area, and will expand autonomous driving to 100 cities by 2030. Announced plans to expand mobility services.

Baidu has completed more than 40 million kilometers of Level 4 autonomous driving tests to date, and its autonomous driving service platform Apollo Go has been used more than 1.4 million times from January to September 2022.

Baidu, which has already provided autonomous driving services without safety personnel on board vehicles in Chongqing and Wuhan, has not stopped there and announced that it will build the world's largest fully driverless robotaxi service area by 2023, maintaining its growth momentum as the world's largest robotaxi supplier.

Pony.ai has obtained a license to test driverless autonomous vehicles on roads in Beijing, marking the start of full-scale commercialization.

Pony.ai announced on the 30th of last month that it had obtained a license to drive autonomous vehicles on the road without a driver or operator on board for safety reasons.

A total of 10 unmanned autonomous vehicles are scheduled to be deployed sequentially, and instead of having safety personnel on board, they will monitor in real time and provide remote support in case of a problem to prevent any accidents.

The Chinese government has boldly prepared legislation to take the lead in autonomous driving and has presented guidelines for all aspects of autonomous driving, including driving tests, infrastructure, and standardization work.

The policy of 'Establishing a National Autonomous Driving Industry Standard System' announced in 2017 included the plan to complete the draft of the autonomous driving standard system by 2020, secure more than 30 standards, and secure more than 100 standards by 2025.

According to the 2020 'New Energy Automobile Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)' policy, commercialization of autonomous vehicle restricted areas will be promoted and large-scale mass production will begin by 2025.

Behind the rapid establishment of the system are active financial support and investment. Between 2016 and 2019, central government-supported sovereign wealth funds are expected to exceed $200 billion, and the amount is expected to be even larger when including local government special purpose bonds.

Additionally, 10 trillion yuan (about 1,887 trillion won) will be invested in 5G base stations, data centers, AI, etc. by 2025.

For road tests, China is also conducting tests at about 70 autonomous driving demonstration bases.

Robotaxi companies began testing in late 2018 and began commercial services in 2021. Major companies such as Baidu, AutoX, and Pony.ai have also been conducting Level 5 unmanned driving tests since 2020.