China bans autonomous car testing on highways; police have already drafted the preliminary rules for doing such testing
China has banned the automakers from testing their autonomous cars on its highways. Several automakers present in the country have been banned from testing their autonomous cars on the highways. It includes local Chinese automakers, as well as foreign automakers also. But now with the ban imposed on them; development of technologies is going to be affected.
Chinese auto industry regulator and police have already drafted the preliminary rules. And this completely bans the testing of autonomous vehicles on highways. Instead the automakers are directed to test autonomous vehicles on smaller local roads. The head of the autos department of Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology She Weizhen has warned the automakers not to do anymore test until he regulations are being published. She couldn’t give the precise information about the availability of the regulation data though.
Also read: First Fatal Crash in a Self-Driving Tesla Reported
Recently in US several accidents were reported which involved autonomous driving technology of Tesla cars. This has prompted the automakers, US authorities to start probe into the accidents and the technology as well. Safety concerns raised in China too. But banning the testing will affect the development of autonomous driving technology. Testing on highways give the automakers information about different traffic nature, signage and driving habits.
Autonomous technology is the new dimension every other automaker researching on. American EV maker Tesla has been known for making fully electric vehicles with autonomous driving technology. On the other hand Volvo has been at the forefront of the autonomous driving technology all along. Mercedes Benz also has recently demonstrated its autonomous bus in Amsterdam.
Also read: Tesla’s Autopilot An Autonomous Wannabe Says Volvo
Also read: Volvo IntelliSafe Autonomous Driving Technology Is Best Suited for Cruising
Swedish luxury automaker Volvo is developing a technology called IntelliSafe. It will ensure no death involving Volvo cars by the end of 2020. 100 odd cars equipped with IntelliSafe technology are expected to start testing from 2017.
Also read: Mercedes Autonomous Bus Ran 20km in Amsterdam without Driver Support
Source: Europe Auto News