(Xinhua) SETTLING into the plush comfort of his vehicle cockpit, a driver surnamed Liu spoke to the sleek dashboard display: “Simo, how long before I reach home?”
“You have an hour’s journey ahead,” answered the onboard intelligence system supported by the large language model (LLM), an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered programme that can recognise and generate multimedia text.

“Please activate the home air conditioning and close the curtains 30 minutes prior to my arrival.” “Affirmative.”
This scenario unfolded within Jiyue, an intelligent vehicle backed by Geely Auto, a prominent Chinese automaker, in collaboration with Yiyan, Baidu’s LLM platform.

Despite the complexity of overlapping voices, simultaneous commands or ongoing conversations, the smart voice system can adeptly discern and address the unique requirements of the commander.
Its adoption rate has reached an impressive 98 percent among its car owners, who on average utilise the system more than 60 times daily, said Xia Yiping, CEO of Jiyue Auto.

“See it, say it, and get it done.” Achieving this level of sophistication for smart cockpits is the goal of China’s automotive industry.
China’s competitive edge in the automotive market is not just a result of its burgeoning new energy vehicle (NEV) sector. The swift progression in the smart capabilities of these vehicles is equally pivotal in securing this advantage.

The country is committed to fortifying and elevating its vanguard status in the sector of intelligently-connected and new energy vehicles, according to this year’s government work report.
China’s auto landscape is now enriched with the integration of large-scale AI models, a collaborative effort between leading technology firms and automotive manufacturers.

Prominent tech firms contributed models such as Huawei’s PanGu, Baidu’s Yiyan and iFlytek’s Xinghuo. Carmakers also made strides with their own proprietary architectures, including BYD’s Xuanji and XPeng’s Lingxi.

Now, over 10 Chinese vehicle brands have embraced this technological leap, incorporating advanced AI models into their lineup.
“Cars, serving as a terminal that harnesses a plethora of cutting-edge technologies, have evolved from electrification to intelligence, and are poised to seamlessly integrate with the broader transport infrastructure in the future,” said Fang Yunzhou, the founder of Hozon Auto, a Chinese electric car startup.

Previously, drivers were required to issue direct commands to their voice assistants, such as “activate the air conditioning.” But now, with the incorporation of an advanced AI model, a simple statement such as “I’m feeling a bit chilly” suffices.
The sophisticated AI, demonstrating an understanding reminiscent of human cognition, can respond to the driver’s needs by executing a sequence of actions. This includes closing the windows, tuning the air conditioning to the driver’s accustomed temperature, and adjusting the fan to their usual setting.

“In the past, the process of voice recognition involved data analysis in the cloud followed by a download to the vehicle,” said Xia. “Now, the task can be done offline, a transition that allows drivers to operate their vehicles seamlessly, even in the absence of an internet connection.

“The AI was predominantly governed by explicit rules, while contemporary large-scale models are propelled by data,” said Zhong Xinlong, an AI expert at CCID consulting, a think tank under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
“This is akin to the concept of learning from specific examples and then applying that knowledge broadly, a skill that mirrors human learning and application of knowledge,” Zhong added.

Intelligence in automobiles is not confined to smart cockpits. Chinese automakers have taken a significant step forward by integrating the AI model across the entire spectrum of vehicle intelligence to achieve a comprehensive and vertical alignment of applications in multiple scenarios.

“Large-scale AI models are far more intelligent in perception, behaviour and control than we might imagine, as they can, for example, interpret signs such as ‘ETC ahead is about to be repaired, please change lanes’,” said He Xiaopeng, XPeng chairman and CEO.

XPeng’s intelligent driving system, which once received updates on a quarterly basis, has seen an average of 3.87 new updates being rolled out daily, according to He.
“The integration of large-scale AI models into vehicles has already brought about a transformation from zero to one,” said Fang.
“Looking ahead, the evolution will be exponential. As this technology matures, we anticipate a future where the responsibility of driving is progressively handed over to the vehicle’s autonomous systems,” Fang added.

Technology enhances ecological protection in China
INCREASING numbers of cutting-edge equipment, including drones, unmanned vessels, all-terrain robotic environmental samplers, and mobile biodiversity monitoring platforms, have been applied to advance ecological conservation and green development, which have become intelligent solutions to the building of a beautiful China.

Industry-leading spatial-intelligent infrastructure company Qianxun SI has customised a drone-empowered intelligent patrol system for the Qiandao Lake. It covers a water surface area of 573 square kilometres and boasts of being able to monitor a shoreline which stretches about 3,500 kilometres in Chun’an county, east China’s Zhejiang Province.

“Drones with a high-precision positioning function can autonomously take off, capture footage, land, and even recharge themselves. They can also transmit video data to the digital management platform for Qiandao Lake, ensuring a far smarter and more efficient patrol,” said Fang Chao, an official with the comprehensive law-enforcement bureau of Chun’an county.

What used to take an entire week for human inspectors can now be accomplished by drones in a single day, Fang added.
By applying the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and visual AI algorithms, Qianxun SI automatically categorises the diverse clues found across the vast Qiandao Lake, which are then efficiently assigned to corresponding management personnel for timely handling. This technical approach integrates the information systems of multiple departments in Chun’an, breaking down data barriers between regulatory bodies.

With over 40 types of smart AI algorithms, the platform has enabled drones to accurately identify litter, illegal fishing, and unauthorised roadside businesses, among others.
Records show that since the trial launch of the intelligent patrol system for Qiandao Lake in March 2023, Qianxun SI has boosted the patrol efficiency of the lake by 80 percent. Its drones have conducted 1,329 flight missions with a total flight distance of 5,654 kilometres and discovered 4,091 clues, greatly accelerating issue identification and response.

Hydrogen energy plays an important supporting role in China’s green and low-carbon transformation in terminal energy consumption. Hydrogen fuel-cell technology has been widely applied in the transportation industry, the power sector, the chemical industry, and other sectors.

At the 22nd China International Environmental Protection Exhibition and Conference in Beijing in April this year, a 3.5-ton hydrogen fuel cell forklift developed by Guangdong Guangsheng Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd. received considerable attention. The forklift can operate for eight hours after just five minutes of refuelling with hydrogen.

The forklift has been running for nearly 20 months with a total operating time of more than 6,000 hours at a lighting company in Foshan city, south China’s Guangdong Province, said Liu Wei, general manager of Guangdong Guangsheng Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd.
Liu added that the forklift has been refuelled with around 1,600 kilogrammes of hydrogen, which has provided for the eco-friendly transportation of materials.

At the scientific research and demonstration base for the treatment and utilisation of urban and rural organic waste around Taihu Lake in Yixing city, east China’s Jiangsu Province, blue-green algae, once a prominent issue in the treatment of Taihu Lake, have been turned into organic raw materials, including industrial algae powder, organic fertilisers and biomass carbon sources, for more and more production scenarios.

By upgrading technologies, the Jiangsu Jinshan Environmental Protection Engineering Group has developed a purifying agent in the wastewater treatment field, with blue-green algae as the main raw material.

While treating the blue-green algae in Taihu Lake and improving its water quality, the group has turned the blue-green algae into valuable resources, and has provided a high-quality, cost-effective, and low-carbon biomass carbon-source product for wastewater treatment plants, according to an executive of the group.

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment has built an intelligent and efficient digital governance system and has established an integrated information platform for environmental management, according to an official with the ministry.

Global production landscape a result of market competition, international division of labour
SINCE the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the continuous development of productivity and economic globalisation have led to the accelerated flow of production factors worldwide.
As a result, the distribution of manufacturing capacity in different countries and regions has been constantly changing, forming a dynamic global pattern of production capacity.

This is an objective phenomenon determined by economic laws under market economies, which requires a science-based and rational understanding.
The global-production landscape is a result of economic globalisation. Under open-market economies, an international division of labour has been formed due to the comparative advantages of countries. Through international trade, they share the benefits brought about by this division of labour and specialisation. This is the inherent logic behind economic globalisation and free trade.

For example, according to a report by the Semiconductor Industry Association of the United States, semiconductor companies headquartered in the United States reported total sales of $275 billion in 2022, accounting for 48 percent of the global market. In the $180.5 billion semiconductor market in China, American companies held a share of 53.4 percent.
Another example is Japanese carmaker Toyota. The company sold nearly 10.31 million vehicles worldwide in the 2023 fiscal year, and nearly 8.78 million were sold outside Japan.

This situation, where production capacity exceeds domestic market demand in a country, is not “overcapacity” as claimed. Instead, it is a natural phenomenon of international division of labour and specialisation based on comparative advantages during the process of economic globalisation. It is one of the manifestations of market mechanisms.

The global production landscape is a result of the law of value. In market competition, capacity with higher production efficiency can obtain higher profits by offering lower prices, thereby eliminating capacity with lower efficiency. In this process, the coexistence of efficient and inefficient capacity is not indicative of overcapacity, but rather a necessary stage for the law of value to take effect.
For instance, with technological advancements and the growing popularity of green development concepts, new energy vehicles are gradually replacing traditional fuel-powered cars.

According to the International Energy Agency’s “Global Electric Vehicle (EV) Outlook 2024” report, global EV sales reached nearly 14 million units in 2023, accounting for 18 percent of the total. It is projected that by 2030, 1/3 of cars running on Chinese roads will be electric, while the proportion in the United States and the European Union is expected to approach 1/5.

Given the global trend of new energy-vehicle development, the supply-demand gap in the global new energy vehicle industry is widening, indicating that efficient capacity is not in surplus, but is rather insufficient.

Therefore, it is the market that should determine, in the global context, which industries have overcapacity and identify surplus capacity. Excluding competition under the pretext of “overcapacity” goes against the fundamental principles and rules of a market economy and fails to meet the requirements of the law of value. It will inevitably lead to monopolies, inefficiency, and stagnation, which are detrimental to the long-term development of any country.

The global production landscape is a result of economic laws and technological innovation. Regions with active innovation and rapid technological progress tend to have a greater variety of production capacities and faster capacity upgrades. Competition, mergers, and acquisitions among capacities with different technological levels and routes are inevitable in this process.
The rise of China’s new energy-vehicle industry can be attributed to the overall innovation in energy-drive systems such as batteries and motors, which are driven by green and low-carbon development.

This innovation has led to the concentration of high-quality, global new-energy capacities in China. Last year, over half of the Tesla vehicles delivered worldwide were produced by the company’s Shanghai Gigafactory. International companies such as Bosch, Magna, and BASF have also expanded their research and development investments in the Chinese market.
The overall innovation and rise of China’s new energy-vehicle industry not only meet the demands of the Chinese market, but also bridge the global supply-demand gap in the industry and contribute to green development.

Hildegard Muller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, believes that the development of the Chinese EV industry and the vitality of the Chinese market are beneficial to the global automotive industry.
As the world’s largest manufacturing country and the largest exporter of goods, China is witnessing the rise of numerous emerging industries and enterprises, as well as a constant push for innovation and competition, driven by technological advancements. This showcases the country’s economic vitality and creativity, rather than excessive investment and overcapacity.

The global realignment of production capacity, driven by market forces will continue to progress despite setbacks. In recent years, some countries have pursued “decoupling” and implemented measures such as “small yard, high fence,” “friend-shoring,” and “capacity backup” for political purposes. These actions have resulted in excessive duplication of production and global overcapacity.

Such anti-globalisation actions that exclude competition and violate the principles of market economy, have raised global production costs, reduced economic efficiency, and harmed the welfare of global consumers and the interests of related industries.

Faced with the continued growth and development of China’s manufacturing industry, the correct and positive approach should be to engage in open and fair competition with Chinese companies, while also seeking opportunities for cooperation and mutual progress, rather than hiding behind the high walls of trade protectionism and nationalism, and firing off cold accusations of “overcapacity.”

Openness brings progress, while seclusion leads to backwardness. This is an important lesson that China has learned from its history over the past two centuries, and it will continue to be tested in the new century.