Why China Is Testing Its Autonomous Cars On U.S. Roads

CNBC

Chinese companies are aggressively developing autonomous vehicles. In August, the country announced that it had issued 16,000 test licenses for driverless cars and opened around 20,000 miles of roads in China for autonomous vehicle testing. But China-based autonomous vehicle companies have also quietly been testing their technology on U.S. streets. AV companies Didi, WeRide, Pony.ai, Baidu and AutoX logged over 1.6 million test miles in California between 2017 and 2023, gathering valuable data to train their autonomous vehicle algorithms. These same companies also established research labs in northern California, right alongside many U.S. companies working on driverless car technology. But now, the U.S. government has proposed a ban on Chinese and Russian connected vehicles due to national security concerns, putting the future operations of these companies in the U.S. into question. Chapters: 0:00 – Introduction 2:11 – U.S. presence 6:21 – Why are they here? 12:14 – Protecting American interests 16:54 – What will this ban mean? Produced and Edited by: Magdalena Petrova Animation: Jason Reginato Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt Additional Footage: Getty Images Additional Sources: Nikkei Asia » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision About CNBC: From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more. Want to be a successful, confident communicator? Take CNBC’s online course Become an Effective Communicator: Master Public Speaking. We’ll teach you how to speak clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and not say, and body language techniques to make a great first impression. Get started today: https://cnb.cx/4aryNgM Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: https://www.cnbc.com/ Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC Follow CNBC on Threads: https://cnb.cx/threads Follow CNBC News on X: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC Follow CNBC on WhatsApp: https://cnb.cx/WhatsAppCNBC #cnbc Why China Is Testing Its Autonomous Cars On U.S. Roads