Shen Hui, founder and chairman of WM Motor

"I do not agree with the idea that new energy vehicles face overcapacity," said Shen Hui, chairman of WM, a company backed by search engine Baidu Inc. "It would be heartening news if 100,000 electric smart cars were produced per year, and we aim to be the first to do it."

According to Shen, self-driving vehicles will be safer than those with human drivers if the mass production of driverless cars is realized with abundant data in use. Batteries are also a safer choice than traditional gas tanks.

Shen said the next wave of the mobility revolution will be led by artificial intelligence-equipped electric vehicles.