Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, with a solid foundation in the automotive industry, will hold the World Intelligent Vehicle Conference 2025 from July 30 to 31, further promoting the upgrading of new energy vehicles in the country.

The conference is being organized by Asia Digital Group, with the guidance of the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission and the local government of Chongqing. The first such conference was held in 2020.

As China continues to accelerate the development of NEVs, and with rapid growth of new-generation technologies such as big data, the internet of things and artificial intelligence, Chongqing has seized the opportunity for transformation, taking the lead in developing NEVs and promoting upgrading of the industry.

"Intelligent connected NEVs are leading a significant transformation in the global automotive industry. Developing intelligent vehicles is a core task in implementing the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), and a key task for China to enhance its global competitiveness in science and technology," said Zhu Dongfang, president of Asia Digital Group.

Last year, vehicle output in Chongqing reached 2.54 million units, among the top nationwide. Among the total, the output of NEVs stood at 953,200 units, jumping 90.5 percent year-on-year, and the growth rate was 56.1 percentage points higher than the national average growth rate, according to the local government.

With strong industrial policy support, Chongqing has set a target of producing 1.3 million units of NEVs this year, the local government said. Led by the intelligent connected NEV industry, it has driven the growth and agglomeration of other industries in the modern manufacturing cluster.

In this year's Government Work Report of Chongqing, accelerating the building of convenient ultrafast charging facilities for NEVs and building the city into an autonomous driving ecosystem center, are clearly stated in the report.

Nationwide, in the first six months, output and sales of NEVs reached 6.97 million units and 6.94 million units, up 41.4 percent and 40.3 percent year-on-year, respectively, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

"In the first half, China's automotive market continued to maintain good growth momentum, with multiple indicators achieving double-digit growth on a yearly basis. With policy support and industry efforts, we are fully confident of maintaining stable growth throughout the year," said Fu Bingfeng, secretary-general of the association.

This year's conference is committed to building an international exchange and cooperation platform, promoting resource integration, technological innovation and business cooperation, and injecting new impetus into the growth of the sector. Participants of the conference include Tesla, Qualcomm, BYD, Chery and Xpeng AeroHT, Asia Digital Group said.

zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn