Local satellite system becomes large-scale commercial success

China's domestic-made Beidou navigation satellite system has been put into large-scale commercial use, with its chips embedded in 40 million smartphones, the director of the national satellite navigation said on Wednesday.

Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said that more than 2 million of China's independently developed BDS modules had been sold by the end of March.

"The Beidou system has also been adopted in more than 20 vehicle brands in China, which include more than 200 models," Ran said at the 5th China Satellite Navigation Conference. The event in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, was held from Wednesday through Friday.