15M New Chinese EVs Will Be Equipped With Self-Driving Features This Year

China blew the rest of the world away with electric vehicles (EV). It now hopes to accomplish the same thing with self-driving cars. The competition intensifies as driver-assistance software emerges as a key pathway to fully autonomous driving.
The South China Morning Post reported that more than 15 million new Chinese EVs, even models priced under 100,000 yuan, are expected to be equipped with autonomous driving technology this year. This increase in adoption is attributed to the lowering cost of the technology.

Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun recently livestreamed a test drive of the company's SU7 electric vehicle. The demonstration showcased the vehicle's capacity to travel effortlessly "from parking spot to parking spot," which means it moved from one parking space to another at the destination while using smart driving technology along the way.

It makes real-time driving judgements using cameras and artificial intelligence, rather than depending on engineers to create driving simulation rules.



China EV100's general secretary, Zhang Yongwei, predicts that two-thirds of new cars sold in mainland China in 2025 will be equipped with L2 or higher autonomous driving capabilities.

Numerous automotive companies are developing autonomous driving technology to maintain a competitive advantage. These companies believe that autonomous driving technology will be essential to the future of the automotive industry, despite concerns regarding the safety and reliability of driver-assistance technologies.


Zeekr, for example, debuted version 2.0 of its smart-driving technology at the Guangzhou Auto Show in China. By the end of the year, this cutting-edge system with end-to-end technology will be implemented throughout China for urban navigation. Zeekr is also considering introducing its advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) in the global market in the future, as the report notes.

In 2024, Chinese manufacturers delivered 22.9 million cars to domestic and international customers, including both electric and petrol vehicles, up 5.5% year on year, with the majority of Chinese-made cars with ADAS costing more than 150,000 yuan.


Paul Gong, head of China auto research at UBS, stated at the Post's China Future Tech webinar that this year would see the "democratisation of high-end autonomous-driving systems" in mainstream vehicles on the mainland as dozens of automakers step up their innovation to keep ahead of their competitors.