As part of the ambitious plan, the Chinese government wants to be top dog when it comes to self-driving vehicles too. To make this happen, the state will do everything from fund autonomous driving start-ups to construct intelligent road infrastructure and set autonomous driving standards, develop HD mapping technology and create robust cybersecurity systems.

The country's three biggest internet companies – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent – are leading the development, and the Chinese state dubbed search engine Baidu a "national champion" for its Apollo Project, an open-source software platform for those involved in the industry to share information and collaborate. The Project is open to non-Chinese companies too, with the likes of Daimler, Microsoft and Ford also signing on.

The industries China is looking to dominate on Earth and beyond