World News for Students of English

30-10-2024 07:00

Chinese companies are quickly advancing their autonomous vehicle (AV) technology.

In China, 16,000 licenses were recently issued for testing driverless cars on 32,000 kilometers of roads. Some major Chinese AV companies, like Baidu and Pony.ai, have also been testing in the US, with over 2.5 million kilometers driven in California between 2017 and 2023. These tests help them gather valuable data to refine their vehicle software. However, in 2024, the US proposed restrictions on Chinese and Russian AVs due to security concerns, putting these operations at risk. The fear is that data collected by these Avs, like location patterns or images, could be used for surveillance or manipulated for cyberattacks.

This cautious approach to AV technology contrasts with China’s more supportive policies aimed at making the country a global leader in new technologies. Whether these companies will continue testing in the US remains uncertain as both countries navigate these concerns.

Difficult words: refine (to improve), surveillance (watching to gather information), navigate (to direct).

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