Nissan recently announced that it will introduce a next-generation ProPILOT system starting from fiscal year 2027. In today's rapidly evolving landscape of autonomous driving technologies, this move has sent shockwaves throughout the automotive world. This upgrade is not just about enhancing sensors or hardware—it marks a fundamental shift from “rule-based” to “learning-based” technology, deeply integrating artificial intelligence into vehicle decision-making systems. The new system combines Nissan’s in-house Ground Truth Perception technology with AI Driver software developed by British startup Wayve, aiming to bring human-like intuition and responsiveness to autonomous driving.

American EV startup Rivian recently announced that it will launch a hands-off highway driving assistance system in the coming weeks and plans to introduce an eyes-off version in 2026, allowing drivers to completely take their eyes off the road under certain conditions. With this development, Rivian is officially entering the competitive arena of the top-tier U.S. autonomous driving market, challenging industry leaders such as Ford (BlueCruise), GM (SuperCruise), and Tesla (Full Self-Driving).

Driver assistance technology has become a crucial competitive selling point in China's electric vehicle market in recent years. Domestic companies have been actively investing in this technology, with notable examples including Huawei’s ADS, Xpeng’s XPILOT, NIO’s NIO Pilot, BYD’s DiPilot, and Li Auto’s Li AD. Among them, Xpeng took a significant step by launching advanced urban road-assisted driving functions in Shanghai and Beijing in March 2023. Facing such competition, Tesla is expected to introduce Full Self-Driving (FSD) in China as early as this year to challenge these rising automakers.

In 2025, competition in autonomous driving technology is heating up. While many key industry players' investments have yet to fully materialize into commercial operations, McKinsey estimates that the autonomous driving market could reach a staggering $400 billion by 2035. However, significant challenges and obstacles must be overcome to achieve such substantial profits.

The R&D of autonomous driving technology has been at rock bottom worldwide in the past few years; except for the U.S. and China, all crucial auto countries such as Germany, Japan and Korea have been left behind in the race. The source of autonomous driving technology is big data, and it plays a significant part in how the two great powers, the U.S. and China, have managed to generate and maintain momentum for R&D. A wave of elimination will be inevitable in the next three years, but automakers that pull through and create a small-scale profit model will likely see a bumper crop in 2030!

The cities that began actively conducting the pilot runs of Robotaxis or autonomous driving technologies around the world are San Francisco, Phoenix, and China’s Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, etc., Even though other major countries, such as Germany, UK, Japan, etc., also actively enact related regulations to conduct the pilot runs of L3 vehicles, but they are still far away from the ultimate technology application of Robotaxis on urban roads. It’s still obviously a duel between the two greats – China and USA in autonomous driving technology currently, and the aggressive planning of the Shanghai City government might be the demonstration city of the intellectualization of global urban transportation after a few years.

Baidu’s Apollo Day just marched into its second year. Despite its short history, Baidu’s ample autonomous driving tech experience of many years has put the company on the world stage. The expanded service of Baidu’s Robotaxi next year will be the focus of autonomous driving industries worldwide. If everything goes well, it could mean significant progress in the technology’s realization and commercialization.