Until now in China, advanced autonomous driving technology, exclusively used by high-end new energy vehicles, is increasingly being installed in affordable vehicle models priced around 100,000 yuan (approximately 2.4 million yen).

At the 23rd Changchun International Motor Show currently held in Changchun, Jilin Province, many Chinese brands such as NIO, ARCFOX, Leapmotor, Deepal, and BYD are showcasing autonomous driving as a key selling point, and advanced driver-assistance systems such as NOA (Navigation on Autopilot) and LiDAR (laser ranging technology), which were previously limited to high-end vehicles, are now being installed in entry-level models. Competition in China's domestic new energy vehicle industry is shifting from mere price competition to competition in the popularization of autonomous driving technology.

Industry insiders who attended stated, "With the mass production of domestic LiDAR and in-car autonomous driving chips, hardware costs continue to fall. Furthermore, with the maturation of NOA technology that does not require high-precision maps, vehicles' reliance on such maps has significantly decreased, leading to the popularization of high-level autonomous driving technology in consumer-grade vehicles."

On the other hand, building trust in autonomous driving is still expected to take time. Citizens who visited said, "Normally, we only use autonomous driving functions on highways; for complex urban roads, it feels safer to drive ourselves."

Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the China Passenger Car Association's Joint Committee of Market Information, stated his view, "The global new energy vehicle market has a structural gap: 'an oversupply of high-end models and an undersupply of popular price range models.' Companies that can attract users with higher cost performance and more practical products will seize the initiative in global competition." (Provided by/CGTN Japanese)