China intends for self-driving cars to propel smart megacity

President Xi's Xiongan project challenges US tech dominance and free market innovation

20180518_Baidu self-driving car

A self-driving car developed by Baidu performs during a March 22 road test in Beijing. The company plans a research center for automobile technologies as part of the Xiongan smart megacity.

SHUNSUKE TABETA, Nikkei staff writer

BEIJING -- China envisions self-driving technology for all private cars in a cutting-edge metropolis to be completed near Beijing by 2035, taking aim at U.S. supremacy in autonomous vehicles and pitting authority-driven progress against free market innovation.

The Xiongan New Area project represents an attempt by the ruling Communist Party to use developmental dictatorship -- the pursuit of economic growth at the expense of public participation in politics -- to build infrastructure and legal systems at a pace other countries cannot match.

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