Tag Archives: Autonomous Driving

NEWS

9 brands given green light to test Level 3 autonomous driving in China

CHINA has reportedly granted permission to nine vehicle manufacturers to test Level 3 autonomous driving systems on public roads.

This move comes about eight months after the Chinese government issued guidelines and began accepting applications from companies interested in testing their autonomous driving technology.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China has confirmed that approvals have been granted to Nio, BYD, Changan Auto, GAC, SAIC, BAIC BluePark, China FAW Group, SAIC Hongyan, and Yutong Bus.

These companies will be allowed to test autonomous vehicles on limited roads, with drivers permitted to release their hands from the steering wheel.

Level 3 semi-autonomous vehicles are not yet being sold in the Chinese market, but this testing will pave the way for such systems to be launched for individual buyers and fleet operators.

According to Reuters, at least 10 car manufacturers in China are offering vehicles with Level 2 autonomous driving systems, including Huawei and Xpeng.

The testing program will be supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Public Security.

The new legislation also allows Tesla to start offering its semi-autonomous driving system in the country.

Previously, Elon Musk hinted that the brand might launch a robotaxi equipped with Full Self-Driving technology before introducing it to privately-owned cars. Chinese representatives were reportedly open to this idea.

However, before this can happen, Tesla needs approval to collect and transfer the necessary data for its autonomous system.

The Model 3 and Model Y are now permitted to enter specific areas in China after previously being restricted due to data safety concerns. This permission was granted after a leading Chinese automotive association confirmed that Tesla complies with data safety regulations.

NEWS

MAN: first autonomous truck on the motorway

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MAN has become the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to send an autonomous truck onto the German motorway.

On board of the test truck, which drove around 10 km on the A9 between the Allershausen and Fürholzen junctions, were Federal Transport Minister Dr Volker Wissing and MAN CEO Alexander Vlaskamp.

MAN, which has been intensively driving forward the development of autonomous trucks for use in logistics hubs and for hub-to-hub traffic, recently became the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to receive a Level 4 test permit based on the law on autonomous driving on German motorways.

According to the company, there is a steady growth in freight volumes and transport between logistics hubs that include warehouses of large online department stores.

The use of autonomous trucks in this so-called hub-to-hub transport is particularly suitable for this as the trucks are always on the road, extremely efficient in terms of consumption and safe to drive.

There are no driving time breaks, so the vehicles can be perfectly integrated into tightly synchronised logistics processes. In the long term, the efficient use of autonomous trucks can reduce overall operating costs by 10 to 15%.

MAN also claims that the new technology can also alleviate the driver shortage. There is already a shortage of up to 100,000 truck drivers in Germany alone, the company said in a statement.

“Further hub-to-hub projects will follow from 2025, but then in typical customer applications. We are thus taking the next development step towards series production of autonomous trucks towards the end of the decade. The law on autonomous driving gives our industry the necessary planning security,” said Alexander Vlaskamp, Chairman of the Executive Board of MAN Truck & Bus SE.

He added that the company will need to work closely with infrastructure operators such as Autobahn GmbH to realise autonomous driving.