From Mercedes to BMW, everyone is revving up autonomous driving tech for China, not US. But why?

In a bizarre turn of events, autonomous driving, a feature that more than half of the world had believed would go mainstream in the US, is actually poised to go big in China first. However, car manufacturers are intensifying their efforts to dominate the autonomous driving market, focusing on perfecting the technology to appeal to smart electric vehicle (EV) buyers in China. China has emerged as a leading force in developing self-driving cars, driven by the growing interest of drivers and passengers in autonomous technology. BMW recently revealed that its China research and development team is working on an autonomous driving system at Level 3 (L3) for the Chinese market. Chinese EV manufacturers, including Li Auto and Aito (backed by Huawei Technologies), have widely adopted this technology in their vehicles.