CHINA’S BeiDou navigation and positioning system has helped rescue over 10,000 fishermen over the past five years, according to a BeiDou spokesperson.
More than 40,000 fishing vessels and around 4.8 million commercial vehicles in China have been equipped with the Beidou system, said Ran Chengqi, a BeiDou spokesperson, at a press conference yesterday.
Ran said that the system helped reduce the rate of major road traffic accidents and injuries in 2016 by almost half from that in 2012.
“It also helped shorten the time needed by police to arrive at accident scenes by nearly 20 percent and the time for reporting major emergencies to within one hour,” he said.
He said that over 14,000 Chinese companies operate businesses related to BeiDou, employing more than 450,000 people.
The whole satellite navigation industry in China topped 211.8 billion yuan (US$32.3 billion) in 2016, with BeiDou contributing over 70 percent.
China has sold over 50 million domestically manufactured chips connected to the BeiDou navigation and positioning system in the past five years.
The chips have been downsized to 28 nanometers, from the previous 0.35 micrometers, and the cheapest are priced at only 6 yuan (US$0.9) each, said Ran.
He said the performance of the China-made chips is as good as or better than similar products made in other countries.
“The industry is expected to exceed 250 billion yuan in 2017, and BeiDou could contribute to 80 percent of that,” he said.(Xinhua)