- Robo trucks to replace stressed truck drivers
- CAI will not come into force for at least two years
- New hurdles for acquisitions by subsidized firms
- EU wants more robust supply chains for chips and medicine
- Hugo Boss sees no drop in sales after boycott
- India excludes Huawei from 5G trial
- Ekosem exports more milk than ever to the Far East
- EPC ramps up plastic production in Zhoushan and Hainan
- Hacker attack blocks debate on Xinjiang in Belgium
There are around half a million truck drivers in Germany, and their existence is threatened to some extent by fully automated trucks. Politicians and trade unions are so afraid of the social impact of this technical revolution that Daimler is only talking about “upgrading the profession”, not abolishing it – after all, the former drivers could work on computers in the future. China has fewer reservations here and is pushing ahead with the introduction of robo-trucks faster than expected, writes Frank Sieren.
There was much excitement in Brussels on Tuesday. A representative of the EU Commission had sown doubts about the future viability of the CAI investment agreement. In doing so he was merely speaking the truth – but the message became a self-fulfilling prediction. The agreement is not expected to come into force for at least two years, as EU parliamentarians have revealed to our correspondent Amelie Richter. Those who hoped for better business conditions will be disappointed – human rights groups and transatlanticists will be happy about the delay.
At the same time the EU is putting together a new “toolbox” of instruments for dealing with China. State-subsidised companies are to have a harder time with takeovers in Europe – even retroactively. And the EU is to make itself less dependent on supplies of important goods such as microchips and medicines. It almost sounds as if half a lifetime has passed since the CAI trade agreement was signed, rather than half a year.
The clothing brand Hugo Boss is suffering in Europe because of the Covid closures. The unadulterated fashion boom in China is a welcome compensation. However, a boycott call caused a scare in March. Chinese patriots were bothered by an announcement by Hugo Boss that it would stop using cotton from Xinjiang. Now comes the all-clear: Sales continue to rise in China.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
Robo trucks to replace stressed truck drivers
Last March, Chinese start-up Inceptio Technology announced that it plans to mass-produce trucks with autonomous driving capabilities as early as the end of the year. The tech company’s two self-driving truck models, co-developed with Chinese automakers Dongfeng and Sinotruk, are currently in the final stages of development. According to Yang Ruigang, the company’s chief technology officer who used to work at search engine operator Baidu, the new models will feature Level 3 semi-autonomous driving functions. The autopilot, named “Xuan Yuan”, will be manufactured locally in China by Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles and Sinotruk Jinan Truck.
The vehicles have several sensors, including two lidars, which can detect objects at a distance of one kilometer. A future upgrade to level 4 should be possible without complications due to the hardware and software used. Level 4 is the second highest level in the development of autonomous driving. In contrast to fully autonomous level 5, a human driver is still included in the planning, but the system already takes over the wheel and thus the responsibility in the long term.
Inceptio plans to install its self-driving technology on more than 80,000 tractor-trailer trucks by 2024, which would allow it to collect and analyze 20 billion kilometers of driving data per year, a strong competitive advantage for team China.
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