Intelligent connected vehicles: the industrial practices and impacts on automotive value-chains in China

The intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) concept represents the commanding heights of prospective automotive product shape and technology, which will pose significant impacts on the value-chain of future automotive industry, especially in China. The development of ICV will also provide the Chinese automotive industry with a strategic opportunity for transformation and upgrading. Currently, the government and enterprises have increased investment in the research and application of ICV. A detailed study in the development of ICV in the PRC can have theoretical implications for exploiting the future automotive value-chain. From the perspective of value-chains, this article analyses ICV’s significant impacts on the new industrial value-chain and its essential features, according to the latest practical cases in China. On this basis, suggestions of upgrading paths are proposed for different categories of Chinese enterprises from the dimensions of process, product and functional upgrading.