Experts attending the Longzhong forum on Wednesday said building an integrated "vehicle-energy-infrastructure-cloud" industrial ecosystem represents a novel direction for advancing the next phase of new energy vehicles, and the process is expected to facilitate extensive cross-industry collaboration and propel China's economic upgrade.

Speaking at the forum in Xiangyang, Hubei province, the experts said the ecosystem refers to the integration of new energy vehicles, new energy industries, intelligent road infrastructure and cloud computing technology.

In early June, the State Council proposed building an industrial ecosystem for the integrated development of vehicle-energy-infrastructure-cloud, making it a national strategic priority.

The integrated ecosystem will drive the NEV sector towards cross-industry collaboration, as outlined at the forum by Ouyang Minggao, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University professor.

Ouyang emphasized China's vibrant NEV sector amid economic challenges, noting its role as an economic highlight domestically and in exports. Through this integration, NEVs will act as a catalyst for China's new economy, propelling trillion-dollar industries like energy storage, hydrogen, intelligence and full transportation electrification with huge development potential.

Zhang Yongwei, vice-president of automotive think tank China EV 100, which organized the forum,said two main technological approaches in autonomous driving have been achieved: standalone vehicle intelligence and vehicle-infrastructure coordination, and as the industry evolves, it is becoming increasingly clear they are complementary.

The experts' opinions gained recognition from automakers' representatives, who also shared their practical experience and recommendations.

Zhang Ying, head of the intelligent transportation project at Great Wall Motor, said the company has invested large resources in vehicle-to-everything technology. Based on practical experience, the development of intelligent connected vehicles will certainly rely on a collaborative approach to achieve higher levels of autonomous driving.

He suggested the government should take the lead in promoting collaborative efforts and create management and operation platforms for intelligent driving.

Hao Jinlong, chief engineer of intelligent vehicle cloud services and data engineering at Changan Technology, said companies working on autonomous driving, whether automakers or suppliers, face the challenge of how to effectively reuse massive amounts of data.

He suggested the government could facilitate collaboration among different demonstration zones,reducing the costs of future development through resource sharing.

Over the past two years, 16 cities have participated in coordinated development pilot projects for smart city infrastructure and intelligent connected vehicles, achieving good results in the construction of urban digital infrastructure and the testing of autonomous vehicle application scenarios.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially recognized Xiangyang as a national pilot area for vehicle-to-everything technology.A local official said the city aims to drive the growth of electric, intelligent and connected vehicles and accelerate integration of a vehicle-energy-infrastructure-cloud, fostering a new ecosystem and establishing a 50-billion-yuan smart connected vehicle industry and a 100-billion-yuan new energy and materials industry.