CHINA has a way of getting things done, and getting them done quickly.
In 2005, China laid out plans to prioritize the development and usage of renewable energy – now it boasts the world’s largest installations of solar and wind power after plowing record levels of investment into renewables, leaving other countries trailing behind.
Although China’s economy has slowed in recent years, it still has both the money and the manpower to take disruptive technologies and roll them out quicker than anyone else.
It seems this is exactly what the East Asian state wants to do in the case of self-driving cars, aiming to beat both the U.S. and other Asian nations to self-driving cars on the road.
On Wednesday, China announced a detailed 450-page roadmap aimed at ensuring highly or fully autonomous vehicles are on sale in the country by 2021.
According to Reuters, the report details three distinct five-year periods to 2030 for the development of autonomous vehicles, with self-driving cars first hitting the market between 2021 and 2025.
The document, which was issued by the official Society of Automotive Engineers of China (SAEC), lays down detailed plans for every aspect of the automotive industry until 2030.
Heidi Vella 