Global smart car industry accelerates growth

Smart cars have become a strategic path for the development of the global automotive industry. Many countries have issued industrial policies, laws, and regulations to strengthen support for the development of smart car technologies, such as autonomous driving and related industries.

According to the Worldwide Connected Vehicle Shipments Forecast released by International Data Corporation (IDC), the compound annual growth rate of worldwide shipments of connected vehicles will reach 16.8 percent in the next five years. By 2024, the global annual shipments of smart cars are expected to reach about 76.2 million and the smart car market will usher in a period of rapid development.

Smart cars are also called connected cars and autonomous vehicles. They are equipped with advanced sensors and other devices, using new technologies like artificial intelligence, as well as have autonomous driving functions, gradually becoming a new generation of smart mobile space and application terminals.

Since the beginning of this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on the global economy. However, the investment enthusiasm in smart vehicle research and development has not diminished. Japanese automakers Toyota Motor and Germany's Volkswagen Group have both made large investments in this area. Ford Motor Company of the United States also noted that it will invest more than $4 billion by 2023 for research, development, and applications in the field of autonomous driving.

A number of laws, regulations, and industrial policies have been issued to manage and regulate related security legal issues while supporting the research, development, as well as application of innovative technologies of enterprises.

The European Union formulated the first programmatic document for the coordination and deployment of the smart car industry in various member states in 2010. In May 2018, the EU issued a document that proposes to fully become an autonomous driving society by 2030.

Germany issued the Ethics of Automated and Connected Driving in 2015, announcing that it will invest billions of euros in the transformation of network infrastructure and the development of connected vehicles. In 2018, France included autonomous driving in its national development plan, as well as provided policy facilitation and financial support for research and development in this field.

In January of this year, the US government launched the latest policy system for smart cars and established the core technical principles of autonomous vehicles. The South Korean government released its policy in October last year, focusing on promoting the development of smart cars and green cars.

Experts said that in the future, smart cars will not only become the core hub of smart transportation, but will also change the overall pattern of smart energy networks by driving the coordinated development of related industries.