
Smart driving new front in China car wars despite fatal crash
Published on: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Published on: Tue, Apr 29, 2025
By: AFP Text Size: Automakers invested heavily in developing intelligent driving features for China, the world's largest car market with a tech-savvy population. (EPA Images pic) SHENZHEN: Intelligent driving features are the new battleground in China's merciless car market, with competition spurring brands to world-leading advances – but a recent fatal crash has seen the government intervene to put the brakes on runaway enthusiasm. Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) help with tasks ranging from cruise control to parking and collision avoidance, with the ultimate aim being a fully self-driving car. Automakers are pouring investment into their development, especially in the world's biggest car market China, which skews young and tech-savvy. 'Ten years ago, only 15% of customers said they would change car because of an intelligent cockpit – today it's 54%,' Giovanni Lanfranchi of EV firm Zeekr said. Almost 60% of cars sold in China last year had level-two ADAS features – where the driver is still in control but there is continuous assistance – or above, according to an AlixPartners report released last week. The features 'are emerging as a key competitive tool', said the consultancy's Yvette Zhang. Some firms use their own proprietary technology, like start-up Xpeng and consumer electronics-turned-car company Xiaomi, while others are cooperating with tech giants such as Huawei. Such software is being developed in Europe and North America too. But in a survey of hundreds of global auto executives surveyed by AlixPartners, two-thirds said they believed China led the world in the field. 'The collection and processing of data, and the availability of software and machine-learning talent' is difficult to replicate, the report said. The technology is not immune from the price wars that are a key feature of the Chinese market. In February, domestic EV giant BYD announced it would release its 'God's Eye' driving system on nearly all its cars, including on some models priced below US$10,000. Then came a fatal accident in March involving a Xiaomi SU7 that had been in assisted driving mode just before it crashed. The accident, in which three college students died, raised concerns over safety and the advertising of cars as being capable of 'autonomous driving'. The issue is an industry-wide one – Tesla's US-released 'Full Self-Driving' capability, for example, is still meant to be used under driver supervision. 'The price war has just been so brutal, companies are desperate to find any way to set themselves apart,' said Tom Nunlist, associate director for tech and data policy at Trivium China. 'So the question is have they been over-promising on features and releasing things as quickly as possible, for the purposes of fighting this commercial battle.' China's ministry of industry and information technology seems to share those concerns. After the crash, it held a meeting with leading automakers and other key players in which it made clear that safety rules would be more tightly enforced. It warned automakers to test systems rigorously, 'define system functional boundaries… and refrain from exaggerated or false advertising'. Reports said it will also crack down on the practice of improving ADAS via remote software updates. As the massive industry show Auto Shanghai kicked off last week, the shift in gear was obvious. 'In a sharp U-turn from just two months ago, carmakers have taken a low profile in terms of autonomous driving functions, but are emphasising safety instead,' said UBS' Paul Gong in a note. 'Safety is the ultimate premium of new energy vehicles,' a sign at BYD's booth read. At the bustling Xiaomi booth, information boards touted the SU7's colour choices, chassis and hardware – but AFP saw no mention of ADAS at all. 'The autonomous driving function marketing race seems to have halted, at least temporarily,' wrote Gong. Zhang Yu, managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight, told AFP that he thought the crash was 'only a setback in marketing terms, which is helpful for a healthy development' of the area. 'This accident was not related to tech or the system itself, it more concerns the ignorance of ADAS and boundary of autonomous driving,' he added. The technology itself continues to progress. 'That's why this is becoming a pressing issue because car companies are going to be wanting to release these features,' Trivium's Nunlist said. However, a truly autonomous car – level five on the scale – is 'certainly not imminent', he added, predicting 'very hard last-mile problems'.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Express
an hour ago
- Daily Express
Iran says new round of US talks planned for Sunday
Published on: Tuesday, June 10, 2025 Published on: Tue, Jun 10, 2025 By: AFP Text Size: Iran's uranium enrichment reached 60%, violating the 2015 deal's terms and edging closer to the 90% level required for nuclear arms. (AP pic) TEHRAN: Iran's foreign ministry has said a new round of nuclear talks with the US is being planned for Sunday, after President Donald Trump said it was expected on Thursday. 'The next round of Iran-US indirect talks is being planned for next Sunday in Muscat,' foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement Tuesday, adding foreign minister and chief negotiator Abbas Araghchi would this week attend the Norway's Oslo Forum, a gathering of conflict mediators. Advertisement Iran and the US have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new nuclear deal to replace the 2015 accord with major powers that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received 'elements' of a US proposal for a nuclear deal, with Araghchi later saying the text contained 'ambiguities'. Iran said on Monday the US proposal was 'lacking elements' reflective of the previous negotiations and that it would present a 'reasonable, logical and balanced' counter-proposal to the US through mediator Oman. Trump has said new US-Iran talks this week could clarify if a nuclear deal is possible to avoid military action. He added that the latest meeting with Iran was expected Thursday, although a source familiar with preparations said it would more likely be on Friday or Saturday. Iran and the US have recently been locked in a diplomatic standoff over Iran's uranium enrichment, with Tehran defending it as a 'non-negotiable' right and Washington calling it as a 'red line'. Iran currently enriches uranium to 60%, far above the 3.67% limit set in the 2015 deal and close though still short of the 90% needed for a nuclear warhead. Western countries, including the US, have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire atomic weapons, while Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia


The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Chinese managers take reins at TikTok Shop in US as sales miss goal
ByteDance Ltd, TikTok's parent company, has been replacing US-hired staff near Seattle with leaders connected to China, aiming to replicate its e-commerce success in Asia after sales fell short in America. TikTok Shop initially set a goal to increase its US e-commerce business tenfold last year to US$17.5bil in transaction volume, but the company had to drastically lower that goal, according to people familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk publicly. TikTok established its Shop business in the Seattle area near Inc, the online retail giant it was aiming to displace. Meetings that used to be held in English are now often conducted in Mandarin and managers increasingly write in Chinese when communicating on Feishu, ByteDance's internal Slack-like app, with English-speasking staff forced to rely on the built-in translation function. More than 100 TikTok Shop employees in the US have been fired or have left amid confusion between leaders that has worsened the work environment, according to people familiar with the company. The cultural transition taking place in the company coincides with its fight for survival in the US – due mainly to the app's Chinese ties. A national security law passed by Congress last year requires TikTok's US business to be spun off from its Chinese parent company or it will face a ban. Lawmakers warned that TikTok's ties to China pose a threat to the safety and security of American users. President Donald Trump has twice delayed the ban – with legal assurances from his attorney general – and another deadline for divestiture looms later this month, though that might also be extended, Wall Street Journal has reported. ByteDance has said it doesn't intend to sell. The TikTok Shop near Seattle in February began requiring workers to be in the office five days a week for eight hours a day, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg. The change is in contrast to some other major tech companies that still offer flexible work schedules, and has been particularly burdensome for employees who often join late-night calls with colleagues in Asia after they leave the office, according to former employees. US-based staff require human resources and manager pre-approval to work from home. The changes were introduced after Bob Kang, China-based global head of TikTok's e-commerce division, visited the office in Bellevue, Washington, earlier this year and found there weren't enough staff pressent on a work day, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Increasing influence Increasing Chinese influence over TikTok's fastest-growing business may raise questions about its previous corporate promise to distance the US operation from China. After Trump initially tried to ban the app during his first term, the company announced a security plan dubbed "Project Texas' and vowed to wall off the app's US data and operations from any Chinese oversight. TikTok Shop is the biggest source of revenue for the video-sharing app besides advertising, and it has become a major investment area for ByteDance. Adding full-scale commerce to its eye-catching content and popular influencers sets it apart from rivals like Instagram and YouTube. The company still aims to challenge Amazon in major markets. To better compete, TikTok Shop recruited aggressively near Seattle over the past three years, targeting people with experience at Amazon, according to a review of Linkedin profiles and people who worked at both companies. In some corners of TikTok's Bellevue office of roughly 1,000 employees, the workflow felt like a remix of previous Amazon teams, the people said. But since January, growing tension in the teams below Kang and Nico Le Bourgeois, who oversaw TikTok's e-commerce operations in the US, became a distraction for staff who were often unsure about whose orders to follow, the people said. TikTok's uncertain fate in the US also weighed on morale. The company carried out a round of layoffs in April. A second batch followed in May. In the first round, Le Bourgeois was demoted when Mu Qing, a Chinese executive from ByteDance's e-commerce platform Douyin moved to the Seattle area to run TikTok Shop in the US. After the second bout, Mu sent an internal message saying Le Bourgeois was leaving to pursue other opportunities, according to a copy of the message seen by Bloomberg. Those cuts were intended to improve TikTok's "efficiency,' according to former employees, though it wasn't clear to staff what factors contributed to a worker's efficiency rating. More like Douyin With these changes, ByteDance leaders are bringing in people who are familiar with what worked for the company in China, where Douyin, its TikTok clone for the Chinese market, has evolved into a US$490bil shopping phenomenon. In addition to Mu, who was the head of Douyin's e-commerce, six other leaders with Chinese backgrounds were appointed in April, according to a different internal memo from Kang viewed by Bloomberg. One challenge is that habits of many American users trend toward passive TikTok scrolling as opposed to making purchases in the app. Some US sellers told Bloomberg that they have also been reluctant to invest in the platform, given the possible ban. The final tally for 2024 sales came in at around US$9bil, according to an estimate by Singapore-based consultancy Momentum Works, far below the internal goal of US$17.5bil in transaction volume. A TikTok spokesperson previously called the US$17.5bil internal goal "inaccurate'. TikTok Shop's US struggles haven't halted the company's global shopping ambitions. ByteDance in 2021 rolled out e-commerce services in countries including Indonesia, Vietnam and the UK. In South-East Asia, it's already the region's biggest shopping platform after Shopee, according to Momentum Works. Last year, TikTok Shop opened in five countries in Europe, including Germany and Spain. The Europe expansion was delayed because the company first prioritized US growth, Bloomberg reported. A TikTok spokesperson did not respond to an emailed request for comment for this story. This is a crucial month for TikTok in the US. The company will host merchants and creators in Los Angeles next week for a summit featuring some of the new leaders of the e-commerce unit. The current deadline for ByteDance to sell the TikTok's US operation is June 19 and there have been several interested suitors. The company came close to a possible spin-off in April to a consortium of investors that included Oracle Corp, but the deal was scuttled in part because of Trump's trade war with China. Meanwhile, the churn of e-commerce employment continues in the Seattle area. Current and former TikTok Shop employees told Bloomberg that they get hounded by recruiting messages from Temu, another Chinese e-commerce competitor. – Bloomberg


New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Australia's corporate regulator secures guilty pleas in stock manipulation case
SYDNEY: Four people have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a local Australian court for their roles in a coordinated scheme to pump up stock prices before dumping them, the country's corporate regulator said on Tuesday. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had charged Larissa Quinlan, Kurt Stuart, Emma Summer and Syed Yusuf in July last year for their involvement in a conspiracy to commit market rigging. The four individuals planned which low-value or penny stocks they would promote in public groups called the "ASX Pump and Dump Group" and the "ASX Pump and Dump Channel" on the messaging app Telegram, ASIC said. Over three weeks in September 2021, the group made nine such posts. Before posting, they bought the chosen stocks, hoping the publicity would push their prices up and then sold those shares for a profit once the stock price rose. "ASIC takes breaches of the market manipulation rules very seriously and as demonstrated in this matter, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action where appropriate," ASIC Chair Joe Longo said in a statement, welcoming the guilty verdict. The individuals face a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment and a fine of more than A$1 million (US$651,300) for the conspiracy offence. The matters will be heard in the Sydney District Court in July to obtain a date for a sentence hearing, the ASIC said.