Inside the Chinese car technology revolution with autonomous driving

“IT’S THE most humbling thing I’ve ever seen . . . their cost, their quality of their vehicles is far superior to what I see in the West. We are in a global competition with China, and it’s not just EVs. And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.”

- WESLEY DIPHOKO

This was an admission, by Ford’s CEO Jim Farley at Aspen Ideas Festival, that Chinese cars are now better in terms of technology. I've been sitting on a fence when it comes to the quality of technology between cars developed in China, Germany and the US. This admission by the Ford CEO has inspired me to even look closer.

At FastCompany (SA) magazine we have started to look at cars from a tech point of view starting with the focus on autonomous driving as outlined below by Jesus Diaz belo.

He has pointed out that the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has claimed that it has delivered what Elon Musk has promised forever but has failed to deliver again and again: a car that can park itself with full Level 4 (L4) autonomy.

That means that the car can navigate a parking lot, find a spot, and park completely unattended. Some cars have assisted parking, including brands like BMW, Nissan, and Tesla, but none offers total autonomy except Mercedes-Benz. The latter is only a very limited L4 parking test confined to a single airport parking lot in Stuttgart, Germany, with special equipment installed.

BYD’s system operates outside dedicated structures and is not restricted to pre-mapped locations. Good news for regions beyond the US and Europe. The company is so confident in the technology that it announced that it will cover any damages to your car or any other vehicle if things go wrong. This means if anything happens, the owner won't have to file a claim and have their premiums go up (in selected regions).