Automotive Industries

The following characterise the research priorities in automotive R&D in China:

Clean vehicle technology
Since 2001, the Ministry of Science and Technology has set down the "three vertical and three horizontal" model for electrical vehicle research and development. The "three vertical" is indicated as three vehicle models: the pure electric vehicle, the hybrid electric vehicle and the fuel battery electric vehicle. The "three horizontal" is the three common technologies: multi-energy power train control systems, electromotor and battery.

New technologies such as automobile electronics, information
The ratio of electronic products compared with the entire vehicle is up to 25-30% by 2005, and mainly focuses on five major functions such as steering, cruise, shift, information and entertainment.

Intelligent systems linking driver and vehicle
These include advanced digital voice electronic navigation systems, voice control driving system, automatic transmissions system and intelligent air-conditioning.

Light metal materials
Aluminium, magnesium and other light metal materials are now applied to the domestic automobile industry.

Intelligent vehicle highway technology
Assistance for safe driving technology is under development. Road magnetic guidance technology with independent intellectual property rights has been achieved, including magnetic markers, road-vehicle collaboration and vehicle control. The automatic lane keeping and lane departure warning function have been successfully applied to Xinjiang autonomous region.