FILE PHOTO: A Huawei company logo is pictured at the Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

BEIJING (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd will utilize its 5G technologies to develop radar for self-driving cars, its deputy chairman told a conference, as the Chinese manufacturer looks to play a bigger role in the auto industry.

Huawei will build an “ecosystem” of car-equipped sensors, Xu Zhijun, current holder of the company’s rotating chairmanship, told a Beijing conference on intelligent connected vehicles on Tuesday.

Huawei will utilize its 5G technologies to develop millimeter-wave radar and laser radar, Xu said, without providing a timeframe for development of the products.

Global carmakers and tech companies have spent billions of dollars on vehicles that can drive autonomously.

Industry insiders, however, note there it will take years before the industry achieves “Level 4”, or fully autonomous standards, in which such vehicles can handle all aspects of driving in most circumstances with no human intervention.

Millimeter-wave radar and laser radar sensors are used by self-driving vehicle manufacturers to collect information from a vehicle’s surroundings.

Huawei’s move comes as China makes a major push to keep pace with the United States in a global race to develop self-driving vehicles.

In April, it launched 5G communications hardware for the automotive industry.