"In China, five firms operate 2,300 robotaxis across 30 cities; in the U.S, Waymo, the sole fare-collecting player, runs over 700 such vehicles in five cities………..Several factors drive the success of China’s AV industry — most crucially, strong government backing and infrastructure investment. As with EVs, China treats AVs as a strategic industry, pushed forward with national government policies. Local governments in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen compete to set up pilot zones, offer R&D subsidies, fast-track permits, and build urban roads that driverless cars can navigate more easily."
It's a familiar story. The Chinese model of state-directed capitalism just seems better than the Western 'leave-it-all-to-the-private-market' approach. Once upon a time, the Western world told the Chinese to model themselves on them to get ahead. I suspect the opposite is going to happen in the future. The rest of the world is going to have to become more like the Chinese version of capitalism to get ahead. However, most of us won't want that if it comes with home-grown CCPs, autocracy and dictators.
China’s vision for a driverless future is miles ahead of everyone else’s
Will 2025 be remembered as the year China took over as the 21st century's global leader in science and technology? It feels like it. Here's yet another sci-tech area where it's taking the lead – self-driving vehicles.
byu/lughnasadh inFuturology
11 Comments
No, because it didn’t happen in 2025. The groundwork has been laid for a decade now.
[removed]
The Chinese model of state-directed capitalism was the kind of hybrid model that the West had before it was torn apart in the 80s. In France they called that “dirigiste”.
There is no need to adopt the autocracy and a one party system to have that. Also let’s be real with “the markets” being the arbiter of all things these days it’s the same autocracy just that the dictators work via the stock market. What was that wonderful term that was popular during the crisis T.I.N.A. ?
China is either a glorious ascendant nation flying on wings of clean energy and lifting the world with virtuous industry or a devilish thieving den of manipulation, coercion, and corruption that the world must unite to thwart. Those are the two choices, sorry!
It’ll be one of the global leaders, but not necessarily the overall leader.
Probably was earlier, but 2025 is definitely the year America tapped out.
So unfortunate. China was comfortably looking back at the US in their rear view mirror until Biden era investment bills showed our country’s commitment to remain competitive.
Depressingly, in the new Trump era we have elected tossing all that out the window.
Yes and no. Theyre making a lot of progress despite the obstacles that the US has levied against them. If they had access to the latest silicon, they’d be way further ahead. I think AI will become the most powerful double edged sword and think its a legit race between countries at this point.
Most likely, i dont see any convincing reason why they wont
They will still be using the same tech support in India though so is it really India being the leader?
Of course the United States is going to be seen as a failure right at this moment. The President has declared war on major universities, recinded college education for hundreds of thousands of graduate students causing trillions of dollars in future damage as those Ph.D students denied access to American universities will simply painfully go elsewhere causing some trillion dollar firm to be founded in Germany, Ireland, Australia, Canada or where-ever it is that those students decide to earn their wings.
That will most definitely include China, and Taiwan and Indonesia and Philippines.
As however is the case , DJT is not immortal, so at some point the question of what do the successive administrations do. Do they continue the assault on the education systems, regulatory systems , business and banking core of the economy , as it presently the case.
My suspicion is that they eventually succeed in causing one of the fundamental civilizational supports to fail i.e.; causing the USD to hyperinflate or their failure to engage in cybersecurity could cause starvation or famine the world over if the United States was attacked via some vector against our infrastructure . i.e.; disabling all of a certain kind of microchip or router – could easily serve as a Pearl Harbor/9-11 type event from which the United States might not recover from for years.
Coupled with the inept/corrupt response (such as we saw with Covid) what could have been an easy victory over national calamity will *definitively* be a catastrophic failure – I doubt in my bones that Donald Trump is even capable of success by virtue of his decision-making rather he represents the total failure of the US political/military/intelligence apparatus of the United States to prevent a Manchurian candidate attack. So from the perspective of FSB/3PLA Mr. Trump’s tyranny represents an amazing success.
The real question that is at present unknown is how well the United States might endure the Trump years, and how might some future administration attract/retain and promote talent and innovation.
We certainly have been capable of as much in the past – I see no reason to doubt that we could in some possible future – but leaving the likes of Mr. Vought or Mr. Trump in charge of anything is simply not in the interests of anyone in the United States except the fetishism of racist oligarchs.
Moreover, if we say that one fine day, those oligarchs do not hold as much sway as they currently do, I have every confidence that the United States is capable if not well positioned to recover itself.
China is living in the future. Everyone, let leave the shithole known as America and move to China . /s
As someone whose country get threaten everyday by CN, this scenario is fucking nightmare. Yet, there is a bunch of guys living privileged lives in first world countries cheer about this.