In China, the future of transportation is here
The World
PRX
4.6 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some of the auto industry's biggest innovators gathered in Shenzhen earlier this year for the Automotive World China Exhibition. From electric cars to self-driving sanitation vehicles, the event made it clear that the future of transportation is already here — and China is leading the way. Also, Somalis in the country's capital say they're discouraged by what they heard recently from the president of the United States. And, under Pope Leo's direction, the Vatican has joined seven other countries in being fully powered by solar energy. Plus, a rare floral phenomenon is unfolding in Rio de Janeiro.
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| 0:14.0 | The draw for the 2026 World Cup. I'm Carolyn Beeler. Today we hear who's matching up. Also today in the UK, a backlog of |
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| 0:34.7 | before there's a wholesale attack on our constitutional rights. |
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| 0:43.5 | reveals something used to make music in prehistoric times. It is a way of giving sound to the past. |
| 0:51.0 | And self-driving deliveries in China. That's today on the world. |
| 0:57.1 | This is the world. I'm Carolyn Beeler. Thank you for being here this Friday. While self-driving cars |
| 1:03.9 | are grabbing headlines here in the U.S., other uses of autonomous driving technology are revolutionizing |
| 1:10.0 | daily life in China. Think |
| 1:12.4 | street-sweeping robots and delivery drones, but also surveillance drones. The race to develop |
| 1:18.8 | those innovations is full steam ahead. The world's transportation correspondent Jeremy Siegel |
| 1:23.9 | recently attended an auto show in Shenzhen, China. Here he is with the final installment from China. |
| 1:35.1 | As I walk into the Automotive World China exhibition, I am immediately drawn to a car. |
| 1:45.0 | It's a Chinese-made electric SUV called the I-car. |
| 1:49.1 | I hop in and ask through my interpreter how much it costs. |
| 1:53.4 | 19,000, that's not bad. |
| 1:56.6 | It's billed as an affordable, rugged, retro-style car. |
| 2:00.8 | On the outside, it looks kind of like a land rover from the 1960s, |
| 2:04.9 | with big circular headlights and glitzy chrome detailing. |
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