Shulou(Shulou.com)06/02 Report--

2019 is considered a low ebb for the self-driving industry. The fully autonomous Flag set up by some enterprises has not been fulfilled, the promised unmanned car production has not been seen in some enterprises, and some self-driving start-ups are in trouble because of the difficulty of financing.

2019 is also seen as a commercial year for the self-driving industry. The Robotaxi unmanned taxi service officially sprang up in 2019. Waymo self-driving taxi has carried more than 100000 passengers since it was commercially operated in Phoenix for a year, and the domestic L4 self-driving Robotaxi has also appeared in many pilot cities. And some small logistics, freight unmanned car scenes have also been landed. Due to the "contactless" demand caused by the epidemic, delivery unmanned vehicles are put into use in a large number.

At this turning point, the self-driving industry is fading away from the apparent hustle and bustle, expectations are becoming more rational, and technology is gradually maturing. After the trough, there may be a period of upward climbing.

Behind the landing of the self-driving industry, it is inseparable from the timely issuance and promotion of road traffic policies and regulations of various countries.

During the CES of the United States this year, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Zhao Xiaolan released the latest version of the guiding policy on self-driving car system "ensuring the leading position of the United States in self-driving vehicle Technology: self-driving car 4.0" (referred to as AV 4.0). Its core principle is to strive to remove regulatory obstacles to the development of self-driving vehicles.

In May last year, Japan examined and adopted the new "Road Traffic Law," which was formally implemented on April 1 this year. The new version sets safety standards for landing applications of self-driving, such as allowing L3 self-driving on highways in 2020, which is arguably the most radical autopilot legislation at present.

China is also speeding up the introduction of self-driving car policies. In February this year, 11 departments in China jointly issued the "Intelligent vehicle Innovation and Development Strategy", which defined intelligent (self-driving) vehicles and clearly put forward the development direction and strategic objectives of intelligent vehicles with Chinese standards as their characteristics. On March 9, the Automation Classification of Automobile driving issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology established the Chinese classification standard for self-driving, which is scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2021.

Obviously, the governments of China, the United States and Japan are actively promoting the self-driving industry as an important national strategy. at the same time, they are also giving relevant policy support and legislative protection according to their own national conditions and the urgent requirements of industrial development.

By comparing the policies and regulations of China, the United States and Japan in the field of self-driving, we hope to investigate the radical degree of the landing of self-driving technology, the support of the self-driving industry and the progress of relevant legislation in the three countries. to understand the different development pace and current situation of the three major countries in the self-driving industry in the world.

Autopilot progress bar: first-come-first-served in the United States, aggressive rush in Japan, and steady progress in China.

The self-driving industry has become a global competition. In addition to the technological dispute, whether countries are radical in industrial policy and legislation has also become a key factor to determine whether industrial development is in an advantage. Among them, the degree of promotion of the road test of self-driving cars has become a key indicator to judge whether the industrial policies of various countries are radical or not.

There is no doubt that the United States is the earliest and most mature country to carry out self-driving road tests. Autopilot open area tests have been carried out since 2015, and Waymo has launched a trial operation of self-driving taxis in Phoenix by the end of 2018, indicating that the United States has first entered the stage of commercialization.

In November 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation officially announced the autopilot pilot program, and established 10 autopilot pilot sites on January 19, 2017.

California has become a popular place to obtain autopilot driving test licenses. As early as the end of 2018, 60 companies have obtained California autopilot driving test licenses, including 32 in the United States, followed by 12 in China and 6 in Japan. As the first area in the United States to open road test sites, the California Motor vehicle Administration (DMV) provides an easy way to obtain license plates. At the same time, California itself has a large number of companies and talents related to self-driving, as well as the United States Highway Safety Administration (NTHSA) is also in California. Unique conditions have become an important reason for self-driving companies to build up in California.

Japan issued its first self-driving license plate to Nissan as early as 2013, and it was not until September 2016 when the Japanese Police Agency issued a "Road demonstration Test Guide for self-driving system" that it really began to guide the road test of self-driving. Subsequently, the Road Test permit Standard for remote Autopilot system was issued in June 2017, which allows self-driving cars to conduct road tests when the driver's seat is empty.

The Japanese government then announced that Japanese companies can apply for self-driving car testing on some highways and special test roads in more than 40 regions of the country from September 2017 to March 2019.

On September 12, 2018, the Ministry of Land and Transport of Japan officially issued the Safety Technical Guide for self-driving vehicles, which clearly defines the safety conditions of L3 and L4 self-driving cars, and its purpose is to dominate the international voice before the international standards for self-driving cars come out. The "Road Test Guide", "Road Test permit Standard" and "Safety Guide" together construct the current Japanese self-driving car road test standards and safety system.

It was only in 2017 that the Chinese government began to implement the relevant policy on autopilot road test license. In December 2017, Beijing first issued the implementation rules for the Administration of Road testing of self-driving vehicles in Beijing (for trial implementation), becoming the first city to try public road tests and issue the largest number of licenses.

In April 2018, the three departments of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Transport jointly issued the Intelligent Network connection vehicle Road Test Management Code (trial), and put forward 14 self-driving function detection and verification standards. as a result, there is a unified standard for road testing of self-driving cars.

By the end of 2019, a total of 22 regions in China have issued autopilot test policies. Relying on national test and demonstration zones, self-driving industry clusters with their own characteristics have been initially formed, among which Guangzhou, Changsha, Shanghai, Wuhan, Cangzhou and Beijing have issued manned testing policies. The total number of self-driving driving test licenses issued nationwide has exceeded 250.

In early March this year, the Beijing self-driving vehicle Road Test report (2019) released by the Beijing Intelligent vehicle Federation Industrial Innovation Center shows that from the test mileage, the stratification effect of domestic and foreign enterprises is significant, and the test mileage data of head enterprises are far ahead. The gap between China's leading enterprises and American leading enterprises is gradually narrowing.

From the perspective of the policies of the three countries on autopilot road testing, the federal government and local state governments of the United States have launched a relatively relaxed road testing policy, which has attracted the participation of major self-driving companies in the world; while the governments of China and Japan have introduced more stringent and meticulous road test standards and management methods. In the highway scene, China is more cautious, currently supporting only a small number of closed highway tests.

In dealing with the landing of the self-driving industry, the United States emphasizes that the state government should reduce the supervision of the industry and encourage the state government to speed up the commercialization of the self-driving industry; while in Japan, due to the deadline of the Tokyo Olympic Games originally scheduled for this summer, almost the most radical speed has promoted the L3 level of self-driving from closed road testing to actual scene testing and commercial use.

In China, due to the limitations of road traffic laws and regulations, local governments in many places dedicated to promoting the self-driving industry give as much help to relevant enterprises as possible in terms of venues and policies, but the regulations and inspection of self-driving tests are still quite strict. ensuring road test safety is the basic premise.

Industrial support: the United States is neutral and laissez-faire, Japan supports the whole country, and China gradually invests in it.

Due to the different national conditions and the development stage of self-driving industry in China, the United States and Japan, the three countries show different characteristics in industrial support.

Due to the characteristics of the free economy of the United States, the US government adheres more to the concept of non-intervention and support, and has always continued the policy of technology neutrality, requiring policy formulation not to interfere too much in technological innovation.

In the field of self-driving cars, in order to deal with the current situation that the US government regulatory system lags behind the development of the industry, some states have first issued relevant policies. the entire self-driving car industry hopes that the federal government can introduce a unified innovation incentive policy and regulatory system to guide the development of the self-driving industry.

Since 2016, the United States has released four top-level design documents on autopilot, and its industrial policy defines the basic strategy for the development of autopilot in the United States: simplify and unify the scope of regulation as far as possible, and give many preferential policies to remove obstacles to the development of self-driving technology and focus on ensuring the safe and stable development of the industry.

AV4.0, which was just released in January, defines the federal principle of self-driving car development and integration, that is, safety first, supports innovation and unified regulatory programs, and tries to prevent state governments from imposing stricter regulations on their own to hinder industrial innovation.

As one of the most aging countries in the world, Japan has become the most aggressive country in promoting the commercial use of the self-driving industry. In 2014, the Japanese government launched a strategic innovation project on autopilot system to promote the research and development of basic technologies related to self-driving by means of cooperation between the government and the people. In May, the Japanese government released the "2017 official and civilian ITS Conception and Roadmap", which clearly put forward a timetable for the promotion of autopilot from 2020 to 2025.

(2019 self-driving passenger Highway Test in Fukui Prefecture, Japan)

In order to cope with the contradiction between the massive travel demand of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the shortage of vehicle drivers, the Japanese government required that autopilot be put into commercial operation in 2020. Direct government support has also accelerated the process of Japanese autopilot from testing to official commercial use. In order to ensure the market-oriented operation of L3-level autopilot, the Japanese government is speeding up the revision of relevant traffic laws and regulations.

And China has also launched a series of programmatic documents on self-driving, from "made in China 2025" in 2015 to "R & D and industrialization of intelligent vehicles", to the latest "intelligent vehicle innovation and development strategy". It puts forward a clear guiding plan for the establishment of China's standard smart car technology industry ecology, infrastructure, product supervision and network security system.

In terms of industrial policy support, China will gradually support multi-channel financial support and make use of various financial channels to support the R & D and industrialization of basic common key technologies of intelligent vehicles, intelligent transportation and major projects of smart city infrastructure. At the same time, we should strengthen the guidance of tax and financial policies, enjoy the pre-tax deduction of enterprise income tax for qualified enterprises in accordance with the provisions of the current tax policy, and implement the preferential fiscal and tax policies for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups. Make use of financial leasing and other policy tools to provide key support to the self-driving car industry.

Obviously, the United States gives more policy support from the top-level design, the development of the industry mainly depends on competition and cooperation between enterprises, and the government plays the role of a night watchman.

Japan has not only made a top-level plan for self-driving, but also because it regards the 2020 Olympic Games as an important opportunity to demonstrate Japan's technological leadership, the Japanese government has paved the way for the commercial use of the self-driving industry in terms of legislation and policy, which has led traditional Japanese car companies to speed up the mass production of L3-L4-level self-driving cars.

China has begun to gradually carry out more specific and detailed industrial support planning, from government financial input to financial preferential policies, as many channels as possible to meet the needs of the development of the self-driving industry. The new strategic guidance will have a significant positive impact on China's self-driving enterprises, and provide a clear development direction for business goal-setting and technology research and development of various enterprises.

Legislative process: the United States has stalled, Japanese legislation has been implemented, and China has stepped up its formulation.

Before the first autopilot bill in 2017 was passed by the House of Representatives, dozens of states had passed autopilot laws or issued executive orders. State governments vary widely in autopilot legislation for their own interests. The purpose of Act 2017 is to establish a basic framework for the development of self-driving technology at the federal level to prevent fragmented state legislation from adversely affecting the research and deployment of autopilot across the United States.

But in the second half of 2018, the Senate questioned the bill's provisions on excessive freedom and lack of safety measures for automakers, and groups such as the Governors Association said the bill infringed on the rights of states. As a result, the autopilot bill was shelved by the Senate. This means that as a country with conservative legislation, the United States may find it difficult to get out of the national self-driving law in the short term.

The United States is a three-level legislative model, the federal level mainly issues guiding principles and makes recommendations on state legislation; the state level is responsible for the formulation of liability and insurance systems; the city level is mainly responsible for the formulation of road traffic rules and some local rules.

As the autopilot bill has not been passed by Congress, the US federal government can only use the annual version of the self-driving vehicle policy of the US Department of Transportation as a guide for action, and the above-mentioned AV4.0 is the latest version. Judging from the four issues of policy guidelines that have been issued, federal policy makers are conscious of weak regulation of the self-driving industry in order to prevent strong regulation from slowing down technological development.

Legislation at the state level, divided by federal and state authority, the state government is mainly responsible for legislation in areas related to autopilot insurance, licensing, traffic safety and liability. In order to compete for the dividend of autopilot, the legislation on autopilot must be fragmented and reflect the interests of the state government. Breaking the boundary between states and states has become the essential difference between federal legislation and state legislation.

Japan, on the other hand, passed amendments to the Road Traffic Law and the Road Transport vehicle Law in May last year, making it one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of self-driving laws.

The formal legislation of self-driving in China is still under study, and the supervision and regulation of self-driving vehicles are still carried out in the way of policy guidance of relevant departments. The Intelligent Network Automotive Road Test Management Standard (trial), which was formally promulgated in April 2018, has become the first national legislative document for road test management of self-driving vehicles in China. The local safety standards that have come into force or are still being developed shall not be lower than the requirements of the Management Code. The promotion route of our country pays more attention to safety. At present, the vehicle operation of all car companies or self-driving enterprises in China belongs to road testing or trial operation.

Enterprises related to China's self-driving industry and deputies to the National people's Congress have called on relevant departments to promote the revision of laws and regulations such as the Road Traffic Law as soon as possible, and actively cooperate with the legislature in revising the Road Traffic Safety Law. it is necessary to comprehensively consider the revision of the existing road traffic safety law so as to provide development space and safety guarantee for the formal landing operation of autopilot.

Obviously, the autopilot bill at the level of the federal government is difficult to issue in the short term, because there is a certain game of interests between the federal government and the state government, and some states do not have a clear judgment and motivation for the autopilot industry.

The current regulatory environment in Japan is more open, encouraging high-level long-distance self-driving testing, and setting more comprehensive safety responsibilities for road test subjects, some of which are different from traditional road safety standards. it is worth discriminating and drawing lessons from our legislators in the legislation of road test and the revision of road traffic law.

On the other hand, China is more cautious in legislation, due to a series of complex issues related to autopilot, such as relevant technical standards, legal norms, attribution of autopilot liability, insurance norms and so on, the cycle and completeness of relevant laws will be longer than those of other countries.

Through the investigation of the road test process, industrial policy and legislative progress of self-driving technology in China, the United States and Japan, we can see that the enthusiasm of the three countries in promoting the development of self-driving industry is equal. From the perspective of the industrial positioning put forward by the three countries, autopilot is regarded as the future trend of the automobile industry and the industrial symbol of national technology leadership.

Due to different legislative systems, government governance models and current national conditions, the three countries show some subtle differences in the implementation of self-driving industry, such as different ripples caused by different stones put into the water, forming the appearance of differentiated industrial development in different countries.

In terms of the maturity of the market, the United States, which is the first mover of technology, is naturally at the forefront of commercialization. With China and Japan putting more emphasis on the legislative protection at the overall national level, American states can formulate more flexible laws and policies to provide timely legal support for the commercialization of self-driving business.

In terms of industrial landing speed, Japan is more radical than the United States and China, its law formulation and implementation speed, L3 self-driving vehicles on the road implementation speed, are much faster than our country. Of course, the driverless car business, which was supposed to be put into large-scale use at this year's Tokyo Olympic Games, may be delayed due to the impact of the epidemic and the postponement of the Olympic Games. Of course, this, in turn, leaves more test windows for Japanese automakers.

As far as the development of self-driving car companies is concerned, the US government gives them more autonomy from the perspective of industry neutrality and market laissez-faire, without violating major safety standards. to promote the effective integration of self-driving cars and the national transportation system. Japanese car companies want to take the opportunity of the Olympic Games to show their mature products and service models to the world, and the government has spared no effort to help them remove legal obstacles.

On the other hand, Chinese car companies rely more on the government's industrial support policies. Out of the strong demand for economic development and urban intelligence construction, local governments will more aggressively promote the commercial landing of autopilot scenarios. From the current construction of demonstration zones in dozens of cities across the country, we can clearly see the enthusiasm of local governments and enterprises. On the contrary, the revision of road traffic laws and regulations in our country needs to be accelerated.

According to the "Intelligent vehicle Innovation Development Strategy" just released, intelligent (self-driving) cars have become the strategic direction of the development of the global automobile industry. The construction of a systematic and perfect system of regulations and standards for intelligent vehicles will become an important basis for the development of the self-driving industry.

These require the joint participation and promotion of government departments, legislatures, autopilot-related enterprises and industry organizations.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.