Driving without steering wheels, that's still a long way to go. For now, you can cut yourself some slack with assisted driving in intelligent cockpits. But we all want fully autonomous driving cars that are more complex than just a smart cockpit. Are auto companies ready to make that happen? Xia Cheng finds out.

Smart cockpit is your assistant on the road. You can ask the AI to find the place, adjust the seat and occasionally drive for you. Are consumers jumping on this interim product's bandwagon?

Meet Nio, a New York stock exchange listed Chinese auto company. It makes electric cars, and invests in its own AI technology.

PU YANG BEIJING REGIONAL GENERAL MANAGER, NIO "Smart cockpit is vital for NIO. Our teams in both China and the US are working on it together. Different from buying smart auto parts and systems from others, our strategy is developing our own AI systems, so we control our own technologies. Initially, it was huge investment. Now, it has paid off as we hear positive feedback from our customers."

NIO wants to turn cars into mobile lounge rooms that run on data.

PU YANG BEIJING REGIONAL GENERAL MANAGER, NIO "Consumers now believe that cars must be intelligent. With data, smart cars can improve themselves day after day. Like our ES8 model, its battery system self-improves everyday with data it collects, and the software system upgrades and adds on new functions with every use. This type of cars become better products with time, in terms of both hardware and software."

That means there will be hardly any dominator in the market as traditional automakers are strong in hardwares and tech companies are leading in AI systems.

That level of competition is likely to extend the auto value chain as more suppliers are getting involved, especially as automakers are expanding their AI power from the cockpit to the entire car.

That means those who want to win the race will keep investing in production capacity for speedier manufacturing and cheaper autonomous cars. XC, CGTN, BEIJING.