Technology

SHENZHEN-BASED BYD sold 106,042 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in April, up 313.2% year on year, among which 105,475 were new energy passenger vehicles, representing an increase of 321.3% year on year, the company said Tuesday. Four months of booming sales underscored the widespread acceptance of BYD products, positioning the company as a dominant player in the NEV market. 图片 The headquarter office building of BYD in Pingshan District. File photo Shenzhen’s production and sales of NEVs maintained robust growth despite the negative effects from the epidemic in the first quarter (Q1) of the year and the industry chain remained steady and strong, which has become a new growth engine for local economic development, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday. The city’s Q1 production of NEVs and electric charging poles grew by 195.4% and 150.3% year on year, respectively, the Daily said. BYD’s Q1 report showed its operating revenue reached 66.8 billion yuan (US$10 billion), up 63% year on year, buoyed by the demand for battery-powered cars as it weathered supply chain kinks from an ongoing semiconductor chip shortage to more expensive raw materials. In Q1, BYD sold 286,300 NEVs, up 422.97% year on year. BYD said last month that it…

Tech company Pony.ai has been granted a taxi license and became the first self-driving taxi, also called robotaxi, company in China to get such license. The move will allow it to operate a fleet of the first planned 100 autonomous taxis commercially on the roads in Guangzhou's Nansha district from May. The company said on Sunday that the self-driving taxis will operate everyday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and fares will be the same as the city's taxi standards. Passengers can hail and pay for rides using Pony.ai mobile application. On the statement the company published the day before yesterday, it said that human drivers will still be operating behind wheels to take over when necessary. But the company added that it expects drivers will no longer be needed in a short to intermediate time frame that will be announced. The current operation will cover an entire area of 800 square kilometers in the district, which far surpasses the current trial fleet around cities in China that operates in less than 200 square kilometers. This announcement is a win for a host of startups that are spending billions of dollars into autonomous technology as it holds the future of…

China's top cyberspace regulator vowed to make on-site inspections on some internet companies and eliminate algorithm security risks, a campaign to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of netizens. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it will hold an in-depth investigation and rectification of Internet enterprise platform algorithm security issues and correct algorithm application problems, according to the guideline released on Friday. Algorithms are mostly based on artificial intelligence and are used by businesses to promote their products and services. For example, an e-commerce application can recommend different products to individual users based on their preferences. In March of this year, the CAC said it would make crackdown on algorithm-induced information cocoons and algorithmic discrimination one of the 10 goals of its rectification programs in 2022. The watchdog said it had launched a regulation targeting algorithm recommendations, which took effect on March 1, to hold internet platform companies accountable and prompt the rectification of abnormalities based on improper application of algorithms. The regulation, jointly issued by the CAC and three other departments, prohibits algorithmic recommendation service providers from generating fake news or disseminating information from unauthorized sources. It states that algorithm technology shall not be used to influence online…Original link

Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft, the second "delivery man" to bring cargo to China's space station and a prelude to the next group of Chinese taikonauts who are about to embark their six-months journey to space on the Shenzhou-13 mission, has conducted an ultra-fast yet smooth rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe core cabin on Monday evening, merely 6.5 hours after launch. The record rendezvous and docking of Tianzhou-3 with the Tianhe core cabin was delivered at 10:08 pm on Monday, around 6.5 hours after lift-off via a Long March-7 Y4 carrier rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Center located in South China's Hainan Province on Monday afternoon, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement sent to the Global Times. Docked at the rear of the Tianhe core cabin, the cargo spacecraft is carrying among its payload daily supplies, propellants and a space suit for space walk for the upcoming Shenzhou-13 manned mission, forming a combo with the in-orbit Tianhe and Tianzhou-2, CMSA revealed. As the fourth of 11 missions scheduled to build China's three-module space station, Tianzhou-3 mission came shortly after the historic Shenzhou-12 mission in which three taikonauts spent a record 90 days in China's space station core…Original link

Leading Chinese rocket scientist Long Lehao has recently unveiled the country's ambitious manned lunar landing plan, which is expected to be carried out with two rocket launches by sending two taikonauts to the moon by around 2030. Long's comment offers a more detailed picture of the country's major breakthrough in space exploration. Long, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of Long March rockets, made the remarks at the 35th China Adolescents Science and Technology Innovation Contest, and a video of his speech went viral on social media late on Sunday night. China is planning to use new variants of the Long March-5 launch vehicle - the strongest member of the Long March rocket family - to carry out the manned space launch missions, according to a slide Long used during his speech. The 57-meter-long Long March-5 launch vehicle weighs 870 tons at launch and has a thrust of 1,000 tons. It is a large, two-stage rocket, capable of carrying a payload of 25 tons, equivalent to the weight of 16 cars, to low Earth orbit. It can carry a payload of 14 tons to geostationary transfer orbit, eight tons to Earth-moon transfer orbit, or five…Original link

The upcoming 13th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, or known as the Airshow China 2021, is set to become another platform to showcase new advancements in China's space technology, as major program contractors are bringing a slew of new projects such as China's first solar probe satellite as well as models of new generation manned launch vehicles to debut at the show. The airshow is to be held in Zhuhai city, South China's Guangdong Province from September 28 to October 3. Global Times learned Tuesday from China's state-owned space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) that the company will stage star projects including a 3D model of the China space station complex, and the Chang'e-5 lunar probe for the first time to the public at the event. Long Lehao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of Long March rockets, has recently revealed that China is planning to use new variants of the Long March-5 launch vehicle -- the strongest member of the Long March rocket family -- to carry out manned space launch missions around 2030. Long disclosed that the new variant as Long March-5 DY, which is initials for the Chinese…Original link

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