At the world’s greatest automobile honest, which opened in Beijing on Friday, there have been a whole bunch of producers, greater than 1,000 automobiles, a whole bunch of 1000’s of lovers – and hardly anybody behind a wheel.
China’s automobile corporations have cornered the home electrical car market, and are more and more seen on the worldwide stage. Now they’re turning their consideration to what they’re betting is the way forward for mobility: autonomous driving.
On the Beijing Auto Truthful, an enormous business occasion that covers 380,000 sq. metres on the outskirts of the capital, the nation’s carmakers confirmed off a spread of clever driving applied sciences.
In China’s cut-throat home market, almost each huge carmaker is investing closely within the software program and computing energy wanted to make “hands-free” driving a actuality as they compete to supply further perks and discover new methods to generate income.
And Huawei, the telecommunications group, revealed this week that it could be investing as much as 80bn yuan (£8.7bn) over the subsequent 5 years to develop its autonomous driving software program and computing energy.
“The truth that virtually each automaker has some model of clever driving makes it completely different to virtually any market on the planet,” mentioned Tu Le, the managing director of Sino Auto Insights, a consultancy.
Le mentioned that the Chinese language market was so aggressive that merely promoting passenger automobiles domestically was not a viable manner for Chinese language corporations to generate income. Extra perks, akin to leasing AI-powered software program, are wanted to spice up revenues.
The EV maker Xpeng mentioned its newest AI mannequin permits drivers to present the automobile instructions – akin to, “park close to the doorway to the buying centre” – quite than a selected spot on a map.
An AI-powered working system from Xiaomi, an equipment and cellphone maker, permits drivers to make restaurant reservations, compile notes whereas driving and place espresso orders. It could possibly additionally detect when drivers appear burdened or agitated and modify the lighting and music for his or her arrival at house.
Home automobile gross sales in China have fallen sharply in current months. The variety of passenger automobiles offered in China dropped by 17% within the first three months of this 12 months as the federal government phased out a subsidy programme.
BYD, the chief of China’s EV business and the corporate seen as a bellwether for the sector, has reported seven consecutive months of declining gross sales.
China’s exports, in the meantime, soared by greater than 60% within the first quarter.
China’s largest automobile exporter, Chery, has not too long ago set its sights on the UK market. Since launching within the UK in August 2025, it has turn out to be one of many nation’s fastest-growing automobile manufacturers, with 13,500 vehicles offered between September 2025 and March 2026.
On Friday, the corporate introduced a aim for 10m world annual gross sales by 2030, up from 5m in 2025. Farrell Hsu, the UK nation director for Chery, mentioned: “This distinctive development underlines Chery UK’s place as a key contributor to the general enterprise development by 2030.”
The give attention to abroad gross sales was evident on the honest because the carmaker Geely introduced plans to deploy 1000’s of driverless taxis globally subsequent 12 months by its ride-hailing arm, Caocao. Chinese language corporations need to compete with US robotaxi corporations akin to Waymo, which have confirmed profitable in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Robotaxis have already been rolled out in a number of Chinese language cities, however their widescale adoption has been restricted by regulatory limitations as a lot as technical ones.
Final week the federal government concluded a public session on a proposed new set of security requirements for autonomous vehicles. There aren’t any nationwide tips, and Beijing has been cautious about permitting unfettered entry for driverless vehicles on its roads.
Final month a number of of Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis stalled in the midst of the highway in Wuhan, leaving riders stranded for hours.
However, Chinese language robotaxis are anticipated on the streets of London this 12 months as Lyft and Uber have introduced partnerships with Baidu to make use of its self-driving software program.
Confronted with tariffs in huge markets, akin to theUS and the EU, Chinese language carmakers are specializing in smaller markets, such because the UK and Canada, to shift models.
One business skilled mentioned the UK was interesting for Chinese language corporations as a result of it was seen as being “culturally agnostic” about permitting Chinese language EVs on its roads – whereas different international locations have blocked them on nationwide safety grounds.
Chinese language corporations are anticipated to account for one in each 10 new vehicles offered in Britain in 2025.
In February, Chery launched its fourth model within the UK. Hsu mentioned the corporate was “actively contemplating choices for manufacturing and R&D amenities within the UK”.
