China's Huawei is developing "smart" ways to deal with driverless cars

 

Shenzhen-based Huawei, whose core community enterprise faces international pressure after it was described by the United States as a nationwide security risk, is focusing on new growth areas such as transportation.

                         China's Huawei is developing "smart" ways to deal with driverless cars

On a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) route in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, a self-reliant bus travels back and forth, stops and bypasses past obstacles, accelerating and decelerating, based entirely on records it receives constantly from its surroundings. Included in the road, visitor lights, street signs and various infrastructure are sensors, cameras and radars that talk to the vehicle.

The site, which is being used by telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies and its partners, is part of China's first national project for intelligent and connected vehicles. The country wants to make the traffic more smooth and safer, while ensuring that domestic companies like Huawei take advantage of the huge opportunity to supply the infrastructure.

"Autonomous driving is an irresistible trend, but any isolated car alone cannot overcome it," Jiang Wangqing, head of Huawei's ICT division, said in an interview. "The only solution is to get more information from the roads."

The vehicle, codenamed X-Bus, is connected to a transmission control network that sees and decides everything that happens on the test road. Two-way communication: The bus is constantly sending information to the network and can make requests such as proper traffic lights to help it stay on schedule. Although the bus is largely autonomous, the human safety driver sits behind the wheel and ready to take over if needed.

“Sensors, cameras, radars that are embedded into roads, street signs, traffic lights, bus stops.”

Huawei, China's tech giant banned in several countries, is turning to traffic tech as its mobile-phone business slows down, @villeheiskanen reports.

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Shenzhen-based Huawei, whose core community enterprise faces international pressure after it was described by the United States as a nationwide security risk, is focusing on new growth areas such as transportation. Instead of making its own smart car - billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei and other senior executives said this is not the intention - Huawei wants to provide the communications equipment and software needed for the smart car revolution.

While widespread use of these systems remains elusive, tech companies around the world are making progress. Zoox acquired from Amazon.com Inc. On approval in September to test self-driving cars on public roads without a safe driver. News about Apple Inc. Which is considering buying a self-driving car for 2024 sent its shares near record highs last month. Alphabet Inc's self-driving cars have been roaming US roads for years.

In China, autonomous cars from search engine giant Baidu drive on suburban roads. Chip startups like Horizon Robotics and Shanghai Westwell Lab Information Technology Co. Automated driving techniques with the help of artificial intelligence processors and algorithms.

 China, the world's largest auto market, needs smart cars with at least some automation to account for more than 50% of new car income through 2025, according to the National Technology Roadmap laid out in November.The plan also emphasized the need for infrastructure that would allow vehicles to connect to the Internet and to each other.

Increasing safety is the focus - currently one person is killed in a traffic accident in China every eight minutes. Huawei aims to provide its technology with more accurate, real-time information to vehicles, drivers, pedestrians and other road users about traffic, weather conditions and potential hazards.