(Yicai Global) March 4 -- China should guide and support local governments to issue policies to allow driverless vehicles without any safety supervisor to run on roads and build pilot zones for manned operation of completely autonomous driving vehicles, according to Robin Li, chairman of Chinese tech firm Baidu.

Li, who is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, set out these suggestions in an interview with Yicai Global today.

This is the seventh year in a row that he has mentioned “autonomous driving” and “intelligent transportation” in proposals to the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of the CPPCC, also known as the Two Sessions, which kicked off in Beijing today.

Unmanned driving is the commanding height that global self-driving technologies and the industry are competing to reach, Li said, adding that the worldwide rivalry in unmanned driving now centers on policy innovation. The country that issues more innovative policies will likely be the first to realize large-scale commercialization of unmanned driving, thereby gaining the upper hand, he said.

China leads the world in autonomous driving technologies, Li noted, but its high-level driverless vehicles are being stymied because they cannot enter the market or get a license. Also, they cannot be completely unmanned or charge fees.

In addition, it is difficult to determine accident liability, he stated, noting that the country needs to break policy bottlenecks which limit development of the technology and industry to stimulate innovation in the self-driving sector.

So Li suggested speeding up the revision and promulgation of China’s road traffic safety law to lay a legal foundation for large-scale commercialization of autonomous driving vehicles and unmanned vehicles.

The government should work out specific rules for market access of Level Four self-driving vehicles, draw up management regulations and insurance as well as accident handling policies for such vehicles, and issue official licenses to those qualified, he added.

In addition, it is also necessary to build an intelligent transport infrastructure in advance, give full play to the advantages of the fifth-generation wireless network’s remote control, improve transport efficiency and security, and push the auto industry to upgrade to smart and internet-connected levels, Li said.

Smart transport is a new and efficient way to cut carbon emissions. Artificial intelligence will help trim more than 35 billion tons of carbon emissions by 2060, according to market research firm IDC.

Autonomous driving, intelligent parking and other smart transport technologies will contribute more than 40 percent of the reduction in carbon emissions through information technology in the transport sector, IDC has predicted.

Editor: Peter Thomas