China's Beidou Satellites will be able to provide positioning services to private car owners next year, with a cheaper charge than the current GPS network, The Beijing News reported Monday.
Sun Jiadong, general designer of the Beidou System, revealed the network will cover the Asia-Pacific region next year, and the whole world by or around 2020.
China has launched seven orbiters for the Beidou network since 2000, which is currently aiding military navigation, monitoring agricultural and fishery fields, and assisting other large-scale projects.
The system, including its communication functionality, will also be used in the future to ease the traffic congestion issue, said Liu Jingnan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
China is the third country in the world to possess mature technology in satellite navigation systems after America's GPS and Russia's GLONASS.
