The two-day 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference came to an end Saturday in the east China metropolis Shanghai. Thousands of tech companies flaunted their latest products and services.

Although breakthroughs have been made in the development of chips and other core technologies, challenges still lie ahead for many Chinese tech companies.

At the World AI Conference, the technology behind self-driving vehicles was all the rage among Chinese tech companies.

There are five smart cameras installed on different sides of a self-driving car. With the help of a chip, other vehicles on the road, pedestrians and the rest of the environment can be clearly detected and recognized. Chinese tech companies say this is the basis of unmanned vehicles that needs major research and investment.

The company's CEO Yu Kai says he expects more Chinese tech companies to contribute to research in this area.

Yu Kai, Founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics told CGTN that Chinese tech companies are still lacking research on the core theory of chip development. At the same time, he thinks more Chinese companies should invest in manufacturers of processors and operating systems.

Experts say many Chinese tech companies focus on the application of AI, but not enough on the development of chips and processors. The latter requires not only years of investment, but also a large number of talents, a major challenge to many companies.

Though AI courses are now being offered at many universities, there are still gaps in the talent pool when it comes to human-computer dialogue, or natural language processing. 

Xu Yiya, senior vice president of technology company Shanghai Xiao-I Robot, told CGTN that human capital and intellectual property will always be the most important assets for Chinese tech companies, as people and creativity play a key role in their expansion to domestic and global markets.