After the frequent occurrence of accidents related to intelligent driving, slogans reading "Use Intelligent Driving with Caution" suddenly appeared on highways in various regions. In the era of holding high the banner of intelligent driving for all and car companies flocking to use all their skills in intelligent driving, the transportation department has finally taken action.

However, the development process of intelligent driving from luxury to popularization is actually a manifestation of price wars. The cancellation of LiDAR and the castration of safety redundancy have highlighted the aftermath, but little do they know that car owners are the biggest victims!

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

During the Qingming Festival, the rain falls heavily, and pedestrians on the road are about to lose their souls. The spring rain is gentle and delicate, and pedestrians are confused and disoriented. During this small holiday, the transportation department no longer used the slogan "Be careful of slippery roads on rainy days", but instead replaced it with "Use smart driving with caution".

Moreover, from "Do not rely too much on assisted driving" to "Use assisted driving with caution", and then to "Do not use assisted driving", the Anhui Expressway has undergone three changes to smart driving slogans.

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

It is worth noting that the road conditions during China's three major festivals are the most complex during the Spring Festival holiday, followed by the National Day holiday, and finally the Qingming Festival. Even though there is only a short three-day holiday after adding Saturdays and Sundays, traffic congestion is still extremely severe. Complex road conditions pose a great challenge for intelligent driving.

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

In fact, car companies have been vigorously developing and promoting intelligent driving for a long time. Two years ago, there were occasional reports of car owners using intelligent driving as autonomous driving, watching dramas and watching videos in their cars, allowing the vehicle to drive on its own, and attaching a slightly heavier object to the steering wheel to ignore hand off reminders.

There are many car accidents caused by non-standard use of intelligent driving. Against the backdrop of car companies promoting "intelligent driving is safer than human driving", consumers gradually overlook the fact that there are conditions for enabling intelligent driving, such as differences in intelligent driving between high and low configurations of car models, differences in road conditions, and even differences between day and night.

After a major event, the shift from promoting intelligent driving to promoting education can be considered an unfortunate blessing.

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

Objectively speaking, the current trend of intelligent driving is extremely rampant. I believe that intelligent driving is a serious technology closely related to traffic safety and should not be exaggerated; Furthermore, when it comes to technology, it is necessary to compete upwards rather than downwards during the competition.

However, in the increasingly fierce price war, safety redundancy has been castrated, which is the source of the sharp contradiction between intelligent driving safety and price exploration. In short, can the price drop really guarantee that smart driving can also be safe?

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

In the past, during the acceleration stage of intelligent driving, there were two opposing solutions in China, namely the LiDAR solution and the visual solution. The so-called LiDAR solution involves adding at least one LiDAR to enhance safety redundancy and enable intelligent driving to cope with more complex road conditions; Compared to visual solutions, having LiDAR can further enhance nighttime driving safety.

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

Under the influence of the price war, the profit margin of China's automotive industry in 2024 is only 4.3%, lower than the overall downstream industrial profit margin and the level in 2023; In addition, the overall discount rate for the new car market in 2024 is nearly 15%, with some months reaching 17.4%. While gaining an advantage in the new track is crucial, the result of trading price for quantity is that the entire automotive chain is in an unhealthy state.

It has been reported that car companies will lower prices for suppliers by 10% annually; Under the trend of cost reduction and efficiency improvement, it is a very contradictory problem for major car companies to improve competitiveness while reducing costs. The answer given by the new force car company Xiaopeng Motors is to selectively abandon the laser radar solution and instead popularize visual solutions in new car models.

The seemingly grandiose concept of 'AI intelligent driving' is actually a product of the aftermath of price wars.

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

Some netizens have suggested that the recent Xiaomi incident, which has been hotly discussed, may be one of the reasons for the accident caused by the use of intelligent driving at night. After all, the accident vehicle is a standard version model and is not equipped with a laser radar, making it difficult to cope with high-speed driving at night; If the vehicle being driven is equipped with LiDAR, there may be another outcome.

The aftermath of the price war! Many places remind 'use smart driving with caution', cancel LIDAR, castrate safety, car owners are the biggest victims

In 2016, the cost of a single LiDAR was as high as 80000 US dollars, about 560000 RMB. Later, it was reduced to 20000 US dollars, and now it has been hit at several hundred US dollars per unit, and the cost has decreased significantly.

However, under the influence of the price war, many car models that were originally sold for over 200000 yuan have been directly reduced to over 100000 yuan after the launch of new models. As car prices continue to decline, it is necessary to castrate some configurations to ensure gross profit margins. However, even so, the rhetoric of car companies, intentionally or unintentionally, leads to the belief that "prices have decreased, costs have also decreased, but technology has become increasingly powerful." Car owners who trust car companies have certainly become the biggest victims.