Lack of domestic in-car operating systems, not a chip shortage, could prove fatal for Chinese carmakers, warns former MIIT head
- Miao Wei urged domestic companies to step up and improve self-sufficiency in auto operating systems to avoid being shut out
- To date, most global carmakers have adopted in-car operating systems based on Android or Linux
Amid an ongoing tech stand-off between the US and China, the former head of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has warned that a lack of self-developed in-car operating systems rather than a chip shortage, would be “fatal” for China’s carmakers.
“The lack of in-car operating systems would see Chinese automotive companies fall into a more passive situation than if there was a chip shortage,” said Miao Wei, former head of MIIT on Tuesday at an industry conference in Nanjing.
“In the past, I also thought it was fine to use open-source operating systems,” said Miao. However, Huawei’s dilemma made him “worried” that China’s carmakers could “face a situation similar to mobile phones where intelligent vehicles all over the world only use one single, open-source and free-to-use operating system”. “Once this ecosystem is formed, it will be the law of the jungle and the winner takes all,” he said.
“If there is no [self-developed] operating system, no matter how strong the chip is and how good the car is, it will be a tall building built on the beach,” said Miao.
Chinese carmakers have three to five years to develop a competitive, domestic in-car operating system and build up an industrial ecosystem in China, before the global intelligent vehicle market is finally formed, according to Miao. At stake is China’s intelligent and electric vehicle (EV) market, the world’s largest with a sales volume of 2.71 million intelligent vehicles in 2021, or 12.74 per cent of total car sales volume in the country.
