Changan Auto to send driverless car on 1,200-mile test
Changan Automobile Group, Ford Motor Co.'s partner in China, plans to send a self-driving test car on a 1,200-mile road trip next month, underscoring its ambitions to produce highly automated vehicles by 2020.
The car will depart Chongqing and arrive in Beijing -- roughly the equivalent of driving from New York to Kansas City -- in time for the auto show in China's capital next month, according to Xu Liuping, Changan's chairman and Communist Party secretary of the state-owned carmaker.
The company will showcase its self-driving model at the exhibition.
Changan joins BAIC Group and Internet giant Baidu Inc. among Chinese companies competing in the global race to develop cars that can pilot themselves with minimal or no human intervention. For China, the push for self-driving vehicles is also part of a broader state initiative urging manufacturers to improve their technology.
"Alternative energy, artificial intelligence and the Internet are the three new technologies reshaping the global auto industry and that poses both opportunity and a tough test," Xu wrote in an email. "We are currently working together with some distinguished companies, organizations and tertiary institutions on autonomous-car development and research."
Changan sold more than 1 million of its own-brand cars for the first time last year. It has raised the average selling price for Changan-badged vehicles 10 percent annually since 2008 despite discounting by its rivals, according to Xu.
Even so, shares of Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., the publicly traded unit of Changan group, plunged 56 percent over four months to a trough in August during China's stock market rout. For the same period, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 34 percent.
"There's a gap between Changan's operational results, growth potential and the low share valuation," Xu wrote. "We hope and believe that Changan will receive better recognition from the market in the future."
To speed its expansion, Changan also aims to start production in overseas markets such as Russia, India and Brazil, according to Xu. The company is open to working with Tesla Motors Inc. if Tesla is interested in partnering to manufacture in China, he said.
The company will showcase its self-driving model at the exhibition.
Changan joins BAIC Group and Internet giant Baidu Inc. among Chinese companies competing in the global race to develop cars that can pilot themselves with minimal or no human intervention. For China, the push for self-driving vehicles is also part of a broader state initiative urging manufacturers to improve their technology.
"Alternative energy, artificial intelligence and the Internet are the three new technologies reshaping the global auto industry and that poses both opportunity and a tough test," Xu wrote in an email. "We are currently working together with some distinguished companies, organizations and tertiary institutions on autonomous-car development and research."
Changan sold more than 1 million of its own-brand cars for the first time last year. It has raised the average selling price for Changan-badged vehicles 10 percent annually since 2008 despite discounting by its rivals, according to Xu.
Even so, shares of Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., the publicly traded unit of Changan group, plunged 56 percent over four months to a trough in August during China's stock market rout. For the same period, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 34 percent.
"There's a gap between Changan's operational results, growth potential and the low share valuation," Xu wrote. "We hope and believe that Changan will receive better recognition from the market in the future."
To speed its expansion, Changan also aims to start production in overseas markets such as Russia, India and Brazil, according to Xu. The company is open to working with Tesla Motors Inc. if Tesla is interested in partnering to manufacture in China, he said.
