Sino-German forum drives progress in future of mobility

The Sino-German Future Mobility Forum opened on Monday in Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing's Haidian district. Inviting notable industry players and insiders to share their ideas and vision, the forum aims to boost the development of new energy and intelligent connected vehicles.

The future mobility forum forms a part of the 2020 Zhongguancun Forum, which will run from Thursday to Sunday, and is a high-level international forum on scientific and technological innovation founded in 2007.

The Sino-German Future Mobility Forum is focusing on the layout of the industrial chain for intelligent connected vehicles, and policy and technical support in the fields of NEVs, autonomous driving, smart mobility and related infrastructure.

"Beijing is the birthplace of China's autonomous driving vehicle industry and has the largest number of autonomous driving companies and innovative professionals in China," said Yin Yong, vice-mayor of Beijing.

"Haidian district, where we are today, is an innovation hub of Beijing. The district takes the lead in developing a series of industries, such as autonomous driving and NEVs."

According to Yin, Beijing has more than 100 companies developing autonomous driving vehicles, including Baidu, Pony.ai and China Transinfo.

Peng Jun, co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai, attended the forum and said in the whole development process of intelligent driving, all technologies should be closely combined with the car. He added that his company has reached cooperation with well-known enterprises from both China and Germany.

Last month, Pony.ai announced its collaboration with German industrial giant Bosch in exploring and building fleet management solutions for autonomous driving, in an attempt to improve efficiency of fleet operation and pave the way for the commercial operation of autonomous driving in the future.

"This (the cooperation with Bosch) is just a beginning. We are seeking cooperation with German automakers, as the country has a complete automobile industrial chain," Peng said.

Founded in 2016, Pony.ai has carried out road tests under different weather conditions, with a total test mileage exceeding 3 million kilometers.

"China and Germany have the basis for long-term cooperation," said Zhang Yongwei, vice-chairman of China EV100, a think tank focusing on the electric vehicle industry, at the forum on Monday.

"China has already established a relatively complete industrial base in electrification. And the country's achievements made in internet and information technologies have granted China's automobile industry with distinctive features and ecosystems," Zhang added.

As a traditional automotive power around the world, Germany is speeding up its industrial transformation to electric and intelligent vehicles. There will be a great cooperation opportunity for the two countries' automobile industries, according to Zhang.

Hubert Aiwanger, vice-governor of the southern German State of Bavaria, said that it is expected to further strengthen cooperation between Bavaria and China in mobility, which is a broad field, including but not limited to battery technology, electric drive technology and technologies in rail and air transportation.

Zhongguancun Science Park, where the Sino-German Future Mobility Forum was held, is regarded by insiders as the origin and the earliest test site of autonomous driving in China.

The park has established an autonomous driving innovation demonstration area, which covers 100 square kilometers.

The demonstration area has test roads with a total length of more than 200 km. That figure is expected to grow to 400 km by the end of the year.

Coinciding with the forum, an intelligent connected vehicle carnival was held in Zhongguancun Science Park.

Gathering more than 10 autonomous driving enterprises, the carnival presented diverse application scenarios to visitors, with autonomous driving sweepers, cruisers and logistics cars being demonstrated.