An autonomous vehicle runs on a road in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province. (PHOTO: VCG)

By CHEN Chunyou

A high-precision map is a key component in perfecting automatic driving and ensuring its safety.

With the accelerated development of China's self-driving system and intelligent automobile industry, there is an urgent need for standardization of the basic map of intelligent vehicles.

So much so, that this March, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) released a plan, vowing to build a standard map system supporting automatic driving by 2025, featuring more precise navigation, positioning, and real-time updates, to safeguard a smarter and more efficient driving experience.

The plan calls for coordinated development between the map and geographic information with other sectors, such as automobile, information and communication, electronics, transportation, and information security, while establishing a standard system that meets the needs of the country's technological and industrial development.

A total of 17 key sub-standards are proposed to be developed in advance, covering technical requirements and specifications for basic generalization, data collection, updates, distribution, and security protection of related data at various intelligent terminals, to solve the urgent need for in-depth application of the map in operation.

In addition, more than 20 standards are to be formulated, covering technical requirements, such as data production, application services, and quality monitoring, to secure compliance across the system.

Research institutes, universities, and related enterprises and organizations will be involved in formulating this standard. Meanwhile, China will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with international standardization organizations, and draw on international experiences, according to an official from the MNR.

In recent years, great changes have taken place in the automotive sector. In 2022, tech company Baidu got permission from Shenzhen and Guangzhou governments to provide automakers with its high-definition mapping technology, which enables advanced driver assistance systems on production vehicles.

Moreover, Baidu expanded the commercial operation area of its driverless taxi service in Wuhan, marking a new stage of the commercial operation of autonomous driving in China.