A subsidiary of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Netherlands-based semiconductor manufacturer NXP Semiconductors to foster innovation in intelligent transportation and securely connected vehicles.
CAICT also announced that the MIIT has granted ‘Official Pilot Company’ status to NXP. The CAICT and NXP partnership is focused on strategic research and development, the development of standards, quality and testing, and talent exchange. It aims to advance China’s car industry with secure connectivity and infrastructure solutions, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications for smarter traffic. The two parties will work on state-of-the-art networking technology and product development, while jointly promoting international standards across automotive applications, such as information service terminals, vehicle-to-vehicle/infrastructure (V2X) communications and other automotive networking applications.
The Official Pilot Company status has been granted to NXP following its strong engagement in the ‘Sino-German Joint Pilot and Demonstration Project of Intelligent Vehicle Networking /Automobile Networking Standards and Validation Test’, launched under the MIIT’s ‘Sino-German Intelligent Manufacturing Cooperation’ program in 2016, and the company’s more than 30 years of engagement in China.
For NXP, the partnership with CAICT represents a major step forward from the positive meetings between it and MIIT in Berlin at the end of 2016. Intelligent, secure connected car technology is a significant growth and innovation driver for the automotive, communications, IC, and transportation industries. It is forecast that by 2020, the Chinese market for connected cars will increase to US$33.8bn, and the market penetration rate will reach 67% by 2023, making China the largest connected vehicle market in the world.
“The ‘Sino-German Joint Pilot and Demonstration Project of Intelligent Networking Automobile/Automobile Networking Standards and Validation Test’ will promote technology innovation and new applications in the industry, as well as greatly advance China’s ‘Made in China 2025 Strategy’,” said Wang Zhiqin, director of CAICT’s Communication Standards Research Institute.
“NXP is the world’s largest supplier of automotive semiconductors and has the leading automotive security and connectivity technology, market resources, and experience in semiconductors necessary for intelligent transport systems. This cooperation will bring together CAICT’s and NXP’s core competencies in intelligent manufacturing and next-generation vehicle communications to advance China’s intelligent transportation systems.”
Kurt Sievers, NXP’s executive vice president and general manager of BU Automotive, noted, “Every year, 1.3 million people die in road accidents around the globe. The implementation of V2X and other intelligent transport systems will significantly reduce accidents, hours spent in traffic jams, and CO? emissions in China. However, safe and secure mobility can only come to life if there’s a commitment to collaboration. We are honored to be appointed as official collaboration company in the pilots, jointly working on this high-impact societal change. We look forward to supporting the transformation of the Chinese automobile industry by providing advanced secure connection and infrastructure solutions for a smarter life.”
