On November 11, the 2020 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference (WICV) kicked off in Beijing, with the theme “New Era of Intelligence, New Life of Connected Vehicles”. It was jointly hosted by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the Ministry of Transport (MOT), and the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). Cai Qi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee attended the opening ceremony. Chen Jining, Mayor of Beijing; Huai Jinpeng, Secretary of Party Leadership Group, Executive Vice President, and First Secretary of the Secretariat of the CAST; Liu Zhao, Member of the Party Committee and Vice Minister of the MPS; Liu Xiaoming, Member of Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the MOT; and Zhao Houlin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), delivered speeches. Yin Yong, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Beijing, presided over the opening ceremony.

At the main forum following the opening ceremony, several experts and enterprise representatives delivered keynote reports on the current status, enterprise practices, and development trends of the intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) industry. These included Zhao Fuquan, President of the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA) and Director of Tsinghua Automotive Strategy Research Institute (TASRI); Eric-Mark Huitema, Secretary-General of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA); Zhong Zhihua, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; David Schutt, CEO of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE); Zhu Huarong, Chairman of Changan Auto; Liu Yunjie, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Jiang Deyi, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of BAIC Group; and Wu Xiaoru, Executive President of iFlytek. Li Keqiang, Professor of Tsinghua University and Chief Scientist of the National Innovation Center of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles, released the Intelligent Connected Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0 at the forum.

This year’s WICV integrates offline meetings with live streaming, cloud forums, and cloud exhibitions for the first time. Over the next three days, more than 100 distinguished guests from around the world will deliver fascinating keynote speeches on cutting-edge topics in the ICV sector. The total number of live streaming viewers is expected to exceed 5 million.

The ICV industry represents a deep integration of electronics, communications, artificial intelligence, and automobiles, making it a focal point of technological competition among nations today. This year, Beijing pioneered the technical route of connected autonomous driving, and built the world’s first high-level autonomous driving demonstration area featuring the connected cloud control system, to accelerate the large-scale application of high-level autonomous driving. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Beijing will complete the development of five systems - smart car, intelligent road, real-time cloud, reliable network, and accurate map, creating a city-level engineering testing and application platform for autonomous driving enterprises. The construction of the demonstration area’s first phase has already begun in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, with the “10+10+1” connected cloud control environment expected to be in place by the end of the year. This includes 10 kilometers of urban roads, 10 kilometers of highways, and one AVP parking lot. Additionally, a range of application scenarios such as autonomous taxis, smart buses, unmanned logistics, and automated parking, along with intermediate products, will be promoted and applied.