China’s Truck Industry Is Buying More Driver-assist Technology

China's truck industry is finding more reasons to buy vehicles with assisted-driving technology.

One broad transformation is that the trucking industry in China is changing from one in which individual drivers dominated, to one with fleets holding the majority share, said Gui Lingfeng, principal at Kearney Strategy Consultants.

"In terms of customers, there is a sort of a counter-cyclical effect" driver-assist truck startup Inceptio CEO Julian Ma said in an interview in late August. “The economy is getting tighter so the cost saving motivation is getting stronger not weaker that makes our customers more anxious to use our products.”

BEIJING — China's truck industry is finding more reasons to buy vehicles with assisted-driving technology.

It's a critical step toward monetization in a nascent business that’s drawn many investor dollars, with relatively little to show for it so far.

One broad transformation is that the trucking industry in China is changing from one in which individual drivers dominated, to one with fleets holding the majority share, said Gui Lingfeng, principal at Kearney Strategy Consultants.

He pointed out that five years ago, fleet operators only had about 20% of the Chinese trucking market. Today it’s at 36%, and projected to reach 75% in 2025, he said.

The companies trying to sell trucks to fleet operators are including driver-assist tech as a way to make the vehicles more attractive, Gui said.