Connected car tech receives boost

The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization on May 24 signed a cooperation agreement with the local government of Jiading District to further develop the National Connected Car Pilot Demonstration Zone.

According to the agreement, the zone — it is located in Jiading — and the municipal government will be responsible for more than five national-level research projects regarding connected car technology. The agreement also stated that the zone will set up at least 10 industry standards and a talent pool of more than 100 professionals while helping to incubate 30 companies with a total estimated value of over 1 billion yuan ($145.8 million).

The long-term goal is to build the zone into a worldrenowned connected car technology innovation center by 2020, according to Chen Mingbo, director of the commission.

A total of 14 companies and research institutes have already signed strategic cooperation agreements with the zone. They include four domestic and overseas research organizations, two automobile manufacturers, two communications and positioning operators, three testing and certificate authorities as well as three parts and technology providers.

One of the companies is the world’s largest automotive chip supplier NXP. The Dutch company will supply the zone and its partners with its smart transportation and smart urban management technologies such as automotive radar and security solutions for connected cars.

NXP will also advance the application of dedicated short range communications technology (DSRC), which is currently widely used in electronic toll collection systems. As such, the zone will be the first in China to test the DSRC technology.

China’s major telecommunications operator China Unicom estimated that there will be more than 200 million connected cars by 2020. Zheng Li, NXP’s senior vice-president and president of Greater China, predicts that the total size of the Chinese connected car market will exceed 100 billion yuan by that year.

“Connected cars are an important strategic opportunity for the transformation and upgrading of China’s automotive industry. It is also the ultimate solution to issues such as transportation safety, urban traffic congestion, energy saving and environmental protection,” said Rong Wenwei, general manager of Shanghai International Automobile City.