China puts the brakes on driverless taxis
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
China puts the brakes on driverless taxis. Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. I'm Stuart Clarkson. Good morning. Plans to mass-produce and sell self-driving vehicles in China have been delayed. It's after news spread of a crash involving one earlier this year. Suranjana Tiwari is with us on Marketplace this morning. Hi, Suranjana. Hi there. So this is a big turnaround in the plans for China, isn't it?
What recent event delayed the mass production of driverless taxis in China?
That's right. And the reason we know about it is because China's regulators last week gave the go-ahead to just two out of nine automakers that had submitted plans to sell self-driving cars. And even then, the approvals by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China were very narrow. They only allowed further testing, really, rather than mass production. So these two companies, Beijing Automotive Group and Chang'an Automobile Group, in Chongqing, will be allowed to operate self-driving taxis on particular stretches of highway in each company's hometown. And the taxis will not be allowed to change lanes while under computer control. On any other roads, the taxis will need to be under the control of a driver.
And that's largely because of the crash that you mentioned, because the issue apparently was that the self-driving car did change lanes. And what's the feeling in China about driverless cars after the news of this crash? It was quite a serious thing, wasn't it? That's right. In March, this news spread very quickly and widely. It was a crash on a highway and it actually killed three women. Now, news of previous accidents involving assisted driving had been suppressed by China's censors. But it was really interesting that this one in China's Anhui province did spread so quickly. We're putting two and two together a little bit because it is China and information is very tightly controlled. But because just these two companies have been given the approval, experts are saying that this is a rolling back of what China is planning.
And remember, China is really pushing these new technologies. We're hearing about robo-taxis every other week. And so it's really interesting that only these two companies have been given the approval to only test this driverless technology. Lots of US cities obviously have driverless taxis, many other places around the world testing the water on this as well. How is the picture in Asia? Are other countries going to start doing more of this? Yeah, that's the big question. We're hearing a lot about it from China, again, because of the investment, because of the government backing. of new technologies, which include robotaxis and self-driving cars. We've heard Elon Musk wants to take Tesla's self-driving cars whenever they appear to China as well.
Which companies received approval to operate self-driving taxis in China?
But having these self-driving cars in California is very different from the streets of Jakarta or the streets of New Delhi or Mumbai. And there are a lot of other considerations. Another big issue in this part of the world is just the population numbers and the regulation around these types of technology. It requires a lot of government involvement in order to make sure that they are safe. We've heard so many incidents around the world. And the only place to make sure that it's really safe for the people, not only in the cars, but on the roads as well, is through very stringent standards and tight regulation. And that's something that even though lots of emerging economies in this part of the world want these new technologies, they also have to have the government regulation and those safety standards hand in hand.
Okay, Saranjana, thank you as always for being with us on Marketplace and have a lovely Christmas break. You too. Merry Christmas. Okay, let's do the numbers now. And British oil giant BP has agreed to sell a majority stake in its Castrol lubricants business. US investment firm Stonepeak is buying the 65% share for around $10.1 billion. The EU has spent 7% less on oil and gas from the US in the past four years, despite making a pledge to President Trump to buy more American energy.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:26
2
What recent event delayed the mass production of driverless taxis in China?
0:26–2:44
3
Which companies received approval to operate self-driving taxis in China?
2:44–6:03
4
What safety concerns arose from the recent crash involving a self-driving car?
6:03–6:43
5
How is the public perception of driverless cars in China after the crash?
6:43–7:53