Can China repeat its EV success with robotaxis? | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:09In parts of Beijing, it's not uncommon
2. 0:11to see these moving around. They may
3. 0:14look like regular cars or taxis, but
4. 0:16they're actually fully driverless
5. 0:18vehicles.
6. 0:19China is rapidly becoming one of the
7. 0:21world's biggest testing grounds for
8. 0:23autonomous driving technology.
9. 0:25I'm standing in one of Beijing's
10. 0:27commercial districts, and I'm about to
11. 0:29book a WeRide, which is one of the
12. 0:32robotaxi companies that's operating here
13. 0:34in China. So, let's go.
14. 0:40I think it's coming.
15. 0:51We've been driving around for a while
16. 0:53now, and this technology is really
17. 0:55incredible. It's my first time in a
18. 0:57driverless car. No driver in the driver
19. 1:00seat. The steering wheel is moving by
20. 1:03itself, and it is taking decisions,
21. 1:06driving decisions, very decisively. But,
22. 1:09what's really striking is how fast it's
23. 1:11going at times.
24. 1:15One of the big questions is, how do
25. 1:17these types of vehicles know where
26. 1:18they're going?
27. 1:20Well, cameras help them see, radars
28. 1:23detect the distance, size, and speed of
29. 1:24objects, and lidar creates a map of
30. 1:27their surroundings. That combination
31. 1:30builds a 3D picture of everything around
32. 1:32the car. AI then processes that
33. 1:35information in real time, helping them
34. 1:37detect obstacles and navigate traffic.
35. 1:40And just imagine as well, this is China.
36. 1:43It's a much more dense urban environment
37. 1:46than some countries in the West where
38. 1:48there are robotaxis already running.
39. 1:51It's constantly scanning things like
40. 1:53cars, bikes, buses, and pedestrians, and
41. 1:56reacting in real time. And while uh
42. 2:00regular driver might hesitate, this is
43. 2:02much more smooth, much more decisive.
44. 2:06>> But these robo-taxis aren't taking over
45. 2:09every street just yet. At the moment,
46. 2:11they're only operating in carefully
47. 2:13mapped areas and on approved routes in a
48. 2:16handful of Chinese cities as companies
49. 2:18test the technology.
50. 2:20>> So you can see the traffic environment
51. 2:23here in China is very complex, but we
52. 2:25also have some other challenges, right?
53. 2:28Outside of China, for example, in Middle
54. 2:30East, the temperature is very high,
55. 2:32which means our both our hardware and
56. 2:34software needs to be stable enough. And
57. 2:37in Southeast Asia, normally there will
58. 2:39be heavy rain and some uh uh some
59. 2:43animals crossing on the street.
60. 2:46>> Developing the technology is one thing.
61. 2:48The next hurdle is making it as
62. 2:50affordable as possible.
63. 2:52China's autonomous driving companies are
64. 2:54already benefiting from the same
65. 2:56ecosystem that helped turn the country
66. 2:58into the world's largest electric
67. 3:00vehicle market. And so radars and lidars
68. 3:03are much cheaper here than elsewhere in
69. 3:06the world.
70. 3:07>> In China, because the EV is booming so
71. 3:09much, all this younger generation, they
72. 3:11like this and they try new features.
73. 3:14Smart vehicle is more like a consumer
74. 3:15electronic devices. People like to try
75. 3:18these new things.
76. 3:21>> Qcraft [music] develops autonomous
77. 3:22driving software and supplies it to car
78. 3:25makers around the world. The company
79. 3:27also has autonomous delivery vehicles.
80. 3:30And so in China, your packages could
81. 3:32come in one of these.
82. 3:34>> Very promising on on the technology
83. 3:36side. And maybe the next I will say 5 7
84. 3:40at most 10 years, it will get into our
85. 3:42everybody's life. Uh very it is a it
86. 3:45will change our society, change our
87. 3:47everyday life.
88. 3:48>> The shift [music] to robo-taxis is
89. 3:50playing out globally, too. Waymo in the
90. 3:53US has its own fleet, but Chinese firms
91. 3:56are using a different method overseas.
92. 3:58They're partnering with ride-hailing
93. 4:00platforms like Uber and Lyft, [music]
94. 4:02which gives them access to millions of
95. 4:04customers already on those platforms.
96. 4:07Regulators around the world are now
97. 4:09deciding how quickly these services can
98. 4:11be made available to the public.
99. 4:14>> Accident rates nowadays on road are from
100. 4:16human errors. For example, fatigue
101. 4:19driving or drink driving or angry
102. 4:21driving. So, autonomous driving tech
103. 4:23itself is really good. It can help to
104. 4:25solve these kind of social problems. So,
105. 4:28the regulators in here in China and for
106. 4:32example in
107. 4:33in the
108. 4:34UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Singapore, or
109. 4:36Switzerland, or France are very open to
110. 4:39the tech.
111. 4:40>> But it's not all been plain sailing.
112. 4:42Earlier this year, this was the scene in
113. 4:44the Chinese city of Wuhan. More than 100
114. 4:47Baidu robotaxis ground to a halt with
115. 4:50some passengers reporting they were
116. 4:52trapped inside locked doors. Local
117. 4:55police said it was a systems failure and
118. 4:57Baidu suspended operations for several
119. 5:00weeks. But Baidu says it remains on
120. 5:02track to launch driverless vehicles in
121. 5:04the UK later this year.
122. 5:08There are still big questions over
123. 5:10safety regulation and whether people are
124. 5:12ready to hand over control to machines.
125. 5:18But after transforming the global EV
126. 5:21industry, [music] China is now betting
127. 5:23autonomous driving could be the next
128. 5:25transportation revolution.
129. 5:28That future is being tested on China's
130. 5:30roads, and from here increasingly roads
131. 5:33around the world.