The coronavirus pandemic may present increase to newer modes of transportation in China, similar to making autonomous driving extra mainstream, a panel of business leaders instructed CNBC.

The Covid-19 outbreak accelerated the commercialization of autonomous aerial automobiles — or driverless drones — which have been used to move items, medical provides and even passengers to and from quarantine zones, Edward Xu, chief technique officer at Chinese language drone producer EHang, instructed Arjun Kharpal throughout the digital CNBC Evolve Global Summit on Wednesday.

The Guangzhou-headquartered firm made headlines in 2016 when it revealed a passenger drone concept.

“Going ahead, we’re working with … Chinese language authorities officers to speed up the commercialization of our product,” Xu stated, including that the corporate has had two conferences with regulators and goals to have its passenger drones licensed inside two years.

Chinese language driverless automotive start-up Pony.ai has despatched a few of its unmanned vehicles to ferry medical staff to Covid-affected areas and transport a lot wanted items. It confirmed folks how new know-how can be utilized to combat a pandemic, based on founder and CEO James Peng.

“What we will think about that after the post-pandemic period, folks will get extra acquainted, extra snug with totally driverless automobiles and we’re able to push that,” he added.

Whereas the pandemic made many commuters cautious of public transportation, some turned to non-public mobility units for his or her travels.

Chinese language electrical scooter maker Niu Technologies noticed a “big demand in particular person city mobility units,” based on CEO Yan Li. He stated the corporate shipped virtually 150,000 units of e-scooters in the first quarter.

Even after the pandemic, the development is more likely to keep, based on Li. He stated folks in China are more likely to proceed commuting on scooters as they provide extra freedom in contrast with public transport.

“We do not see the development of individuals going again to public transportation. A lot of individuals are beginning to get used to these particular person mobility units and I believe that is a superb development for us,” Li added.

Mainstream adoption of autonomous automobiles faces numerous challenges, based on the business leaders. Pony.ai chief Peng listed three points: technical development, regulation and shopper acceptance.

“I believe from the technical viewpoint, we have now made progress in leaps and bounds within the final a number of years,” he stated. Peng added that the corporate obtained a completely driverless testing allow in California and is about to obtain some in China as properly.

Driverless automobiles have made loads of progress over time as corporations repeatedly examined their know-how to handle potential issues and forestall accidents. Nonetheless, questions round security from the general public and regulators stay a serious hurdle in the way in which of mainstream adoption.

Regulation is the “largest bottleneck” in relation to unmanned passenger drones, based on EHang’s Xu.

“As a result of up to now there isn’t a regulation. There isn’t a priority previously which permit the AAV to fly over the city space,” he stated.

“Proper now, the state of affairs is changing into extra convincing as a result of we did deal with the trial flights over about 43 cities in 8 international locations with greater than 4,000 flights accomplished,” Xu added.

Convincing passengers to take both driverless vehicles or autonomous passenger drones additionally stays a serious impediment.

“That entrance, it takes time for purchasers to get used to the way it feels (and perceive that) autonomous driving is definitely safer and extra handy method of transportation,” Peng stated.