Intelligent, connected cars hold keys to the future

Automakers, local authorities and tech giants are all racing peers to new tech horizons

The Chinese government said it is paying great attention to the development of intelligent connected vehicles and considers the sector a vital way to ease the burden on transportation, energy consumption and environmental pollution, a top official said.

"By 2020, the market scale of the country's intelligent connected vehicles sector is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion)," said Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei at the World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference held in Beijing from Oct 18 to 21.