China in need of more intelligent mobility professionals

China is facing a shortage of intelligent mobility talent as firms invest in the autonomous driving and new energy car sectors, especially newcomers such as Huawei, Xiaomi and 360, LinkedIn said on Thursday.

About 84 percent people agreed that China is facing a "serious talent shortage,” it said.

Globally, there are over 640,000 intelligent mobility talents, according to LinkedIn. The United States has the biggest pool of 167,000, followed by India with 93,000, UK with 55,000, Germany with 36,000 and China with 29,000. In China, autonomous driving is the most popular skill while Python is welcomed in other regions worldwide, according to LinkedIn data.

China is the fastest growing intelligent mobility market, with many new and competitive players, said Linda Wang, head of customer success and talent solutions at LinkedIn China. 

The so-called “tier-1” new players, including Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba, IBM, Microsoft and Lenovo, have established special intelligent mobility teams, each with 200 to 600 people, Wang said. 

About 10 to 40 percent of Chinese consumers are willing to pay for intelligent mobility features, according to a report of McKinsey.

In the past month, Huawei and Xiaomi announced plans for expansion in the automotive industry. Xiaomi , for example, plans to invest US$10 billion in the car industry in the next decade.

Cybersecurity giant 360 led a new round of investment of 3 billion yuan (US$464.8 million) in Hozon, a new-energy car startup, the company said on Tuesday.

Shanghai is the No.1 city nationwide for an intelligent mobility talent pool, thanks to its automotive industry advantages and growing information technology industry with a strategy to develop digital economy, according to LinkedIn. 

Huawei has already set up its new car business unit headquarters in Shanghai.