There are still three hurdles to bringing smart cars into daily life

In recent years, as the number of cars in China continues to increase, safety hazards, energy shortages, environmental pollution, traffic congestion and other problems have become increasingly severe. The intelligentization, electrification and networking of cars have become the general trend of the development of the automobile industry in China and other countries in the world. According to industry forecasts, my country will usher in the era of fully autonomous driving in 2025.

On November 4, reporters learned at the 3rd China Intelligent Vehicle International Forum held in Chengdu, Sichuan that under the leadership of the Vehicle Information Service Industry Application Alliance, the Intelligent Vehicle Research Institute Cluster was officially settled in Chengdu, and a Vehicle Network Security Committee with the participation of more than 40 industrial units was established. It plans to jointly build a new future for intelligent vehicles in the three areas of information security, V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle information exchange), and ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period.

However, many industry experts believe that there are still many technical difficulties and policy dilemmas in the current automotive intelligence, among which supervision, law and ethics are the three most difficult hurdles to overcome.

Lack of standard system

Smart cars are a new generation of cars that use advanced sensors such as radars and cameras, controllers and actuators, and realize intelligent information exchange through on-board sensor systems and information terminals. They have intelligent environmental perception capabilities and ultimately replace human operation. Therefore, the ultimate goal of smart cars is to be completely unmanned.

At the 3rd China Intelligent Vehicle International Forum, 500 experts from relevant ministries and commissions such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and countries such as China, the United States, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine discussed driverless driving. Some experts said that although the development direction and goals of intelligent vehicles are basically clear, my country's intelligent vehicles are still in a state of independent development by related enterprises, and the technical standard system is lagging behind, lacking overall policies and a complete standard system. Many experts also pointed out that my country lacks top-level design for intelligent vehicles and lacks infrastructure construction planning to match the development of intelligent vehicles, which to some extent restricts the rapid development of intelligent vehicle technology.

In addition, since the development of smart cars spans multiple industries and many disciplines, we should strengthen overall planning and top-level design, study and formulate a scientific development strategy for smart cars, and strengthen the planning of road infrastructure construction that matches the development of smart cars, so that smart cars and smart transportation system construction can complement each other and achieve collaborative innovation.

Dr. Liu Di from the Institute of Automotive Standardization of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center said: "The development of smart cars requires standards to come first, and the automotive industry should take the lead and work together with different industries such as information, electronics, and transportation to avoid unexpected problems at the boundaries of standards. In addition, we must base ourselves on the current status of smart car development in my country and consider future development trends, reserve development space and interfaces for the future, and avoid restricting technology and industry development."

No laws or regulations yet

It is understood that my country does not yet have a written legal system regarding intelligent connected vehicles, and how to formulate relevant laws and regulations for intelligent vehicles has also become a major problem.

Zhou Wenhui, director of the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security, listed some difficulties in lawmaking. First, how should driverless vehicles be registered and managed, and whether license plates should be separated from traditional vehicles; second, smart cars can change the performance of the car through software, so how to define vehicle modification and upgrades; third, the objects of law enforcement need to be reconsidered, such as whether the hit-and-run is the judgment made by the smart car or the driver's own will; and there are new criminal methods brought about by high technology, such as hacker intrusion.

At present, facing the general trend of automobile intelligence, Changan, SAIC, GAC, BAIC and other automobile companies have formulated intelligent automobile development strategies and plans, and Internet companies such as LeTV, Botai and Baidu are also accelerating the layout of intelligent automobiles. Faced with various difficulties, Zhou Wenhui said: "Many people in the industry are thinking about how to make intelligent cars more eye-catching, but people pay little attention to basic legal rules. If the law is not issued, what should the car be designed on?" Li Kecheng, executive deputy director of the China Actuarial Development Research Center of Peking University, believes that the management of intelligent cars lags behind in the entire production line of design, production, and market launch. The management department must communicate frequently with the production department to promote the development of intelligent cars.

Facing a moral and ethical dilemma

Relevant data show that as the world's largest automobile market, China's automobile industry has maintained an upward trend in recent years, which provides a broad space and fertile soil for the development of smart cars and related technology industries in China. Industry experts generally believe that before driverless cars are put on the market, it is necessary to clarify the "right to exercise" and "right to drive" issues through laws, and to amend a series of legal provisions including the Criminal Law, Road Traffic Safety Law, Insurance Law, etc. to clarify relevant legal responsibilities and remove obstacles and restrictions in terms of safety and legal aspects for driverless cars to go on the road.

Even so, the moral and ethical issues brought about by smart cars are still the focus of endless debate at home and abroad. Since the design process of driverless technology regards the protection of vehicles and occupants as the first priority, due to the complexity and strong randomness of traffic conditions in real life, the biggest potential risk it brings is traffic accidents. Google co-founder Sergey Brin also admitted that the company's driverless cars have been involved in 12 traffic accidents, and in January this year, the world's first traffic accident caused by the use of automatic driving functions occurred in Handan, Hebei. According to the video analysis of the dashcam after the accident, when the accident occurred, Tesla (electric car) was in a "fixed speed" state and failed to recognize the dodge and hit the car in front. In this regard, Bruce Kramer, president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , mentioned: "If there is an obstacle ahead and there are pedestrians in front of the other lane. Manual control can make its own judgment, then will the driverless machine respond correctly?"

There are many similar problems listed by experts. For example, if a vehicle and a pedestrian/cyclist are involved in a traffic accident with other cars, how should the computer decide who to save first?

A professor at the Stanford Center for Automotive Research believes that under normal circumstances, drivers are only responsible for their own driving behavior. For an unmanned vehicle, the responsibility for driving behavior falls on the developer who designs the unmanned driving system. In any case, the judgment of the unmanned driving behavior code must take into account the driving scenario involved.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.