Although Huawei has always claimed not to build cars, it only helps car companies build and sell good cars. But on December 23, when Huawei officially launched the AITO Q&A M5 at its winter flagship new product launch, it still clearly conveyed to the outside world the possibility that it might one day announce that it would officially become a smart electric vehicle manufacturer, and as Huawei's other businesses were more and more restricted, the temptation to build cars was also increasing.
At yesterday's Huawei winter flagship new product launch, AITO asked the M5 to make the finale, and Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, CEO of Consumer BG, and CEO of Smart Vehicle Solution BU, spent more than an hour introducing the car, highlighting its importance to Huawei.
AITO is a new brand for the mid-to-high-end market launched by Chongqing Jinkang Cyris Automobile and Huawei, which was released at Cyrus's Chongqing factory on December 2, and the Q&C M5 was also unveiled at the time, but it did not have an official name at the time. At Huawei's new product launch, the car was officially unveiled and announced the pre-price.
Unlike the Xilix SF5, Huawei is deeply involved – more precisely, it has fully "led" the design, research and development, engineering technology, software and hardware, and sales of the AITO Q&D M5. The main role of Cialis is manufacturing and the supply of range extenders – integrated into the HUAWEI DriveONE pure electric drive range extender system.
From partial participation in the Cyrus SF5 to the full leadership of the AITO Q&A M5, Huawei has run through the whole process of a new model from initial product positioning, design, engineering development, test verification to brand promotion and marketing, and has also verified the reliability of almost all software and hardware such as Huawei's self-developed electric drive system, intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving to charging services. Even the household charging pile is provided by Huawei. From this point of view, aito infidelity M5 is a comprehensive test of Huawei's "car building".
However, from the perspective of the exterior styling design of the AITO Q&I M5, it is still somewhat familiar with the Xilis SF5, and its intelligent driving level is only the current L2 level in the industry, which shows that the car does not use a new model platform and the vehicle's electronic and electrical architecture. But these are no longer important, and I believe that the second model of the AITO brand will surprise the market.
Next, let's take a closer look at the AITO Q&A M5. It is a medium-sized SUV with a length, width and height of 4770x1930x1625mm and a wheelbase of 2880mm. The lines of the whole vehicle are smooth and simple, and it has both the sporty sense of supercaring and the stability of the SUV.
There are three power versions of this car, and the pre-sale price after comprehensive subsidies is 250,000 yuan for the standard version of the rear drive, 280,000 yuan for the four-wheel drive performance version, and 320,000 yuan for the four-wheel drive flagship version. Since December 23, 180 Huawei stores in 42 cities will display real cars, and since January 20, 2022, 500 Huawei stores in 118 cities will open up to make test drives and reservations, and users can make reservations through the AITO official website and my Huawei APP.
The first batch of car owners who book AITO Q&E M5 can enjoy the three major benefits of vehicle basic maintenance policy, vehicle basic service rights and free car network traffic, and the first 10,000 users who place orders can also receive 10,000 yuan of vehicle optional packs and get priority car pick-up rights. There are also HUAWEI Card exclusive rights and services for car owners, and can enjoy exclusive rights and services such as refueling cashback, pen and pen cashback, roadside assistance, owners' insurance and free annual fees.
The biggest highlight of the AITO Q&I M5 is the HarmonyOS Hongmeng cockpit system, which is also the first time that the system is installed on a smart electric vehicle. The HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit provides users with an easy, convenient, and rich immersive ride experience. And it connects cars with other smart terminals such as people, mobile phones, smart homes, smart watches, etc., forming an ecosystem of smart life.
With the blessing of HarmonyOS intelligent cockpit, AITO Inquisition M5 will have a very leading functional experience in terms of voice interaction, navigation experience, digital car key, etc. Taking voice interaction as an example, after the user wakes up the intelligent voice assistant Xiaoyi, it can carry out up to 60 seconds of continuous dialogue, without repeating the wake-up at each command, the false break rate is ≤1%, and it is not afraid of interjection interruption and invalid instructions, and it can also achieve a sentence to arrange 2 tasks; the system also supports full-interface voice control, visually speaking, complex commands only need to be completed by saying simple Arabic numerals; four-tone area intelligent recognition can accurately identify instructions from the main driver, co-driver, and rear row.
In addition, the HUAWEI SOUND sound system brings the ultimate audiovisual feast, with Huawei music and Huawei video high-quality multi-channel audio and video content, so that users can feel the perfect combination of innovative technology and sound aesthetics. Huawei Application Market powered by AITO is an application market built by Huawei for smart vehicle scenarios, and the open Hongmeng ecosystem will continue to bring users fun and interesting latest applications, and users can download more third-party applications through the Huawei Application Market.
The HarmonyOS smart cockpit has an interface and interaction method familiar to Huawei end users, and through a large area of visual interaction area with customized UI design, most of the settings and information can be directly accessed in one step to achieve zero-level operation. The smart Dock service card that resides in the personalized shortcut bar under the desktop can not only be adjusted according to personal preferences, but also actively recommend content, safety reminders, convenient services, etc. according to the comprehensive analysis of road conditions, owner status and vehicle conditions. In terms of window display, there are many forms such as full-screen, split-screen, and suspended windows to meet the interaction needs of different scenarios.
HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit also provides easier cross-device connectivity and maneuverability to support:
Connected car people: Mobile phones and car machines logged in to the same Huawei account can realize the natural connection and seamless flow of navigation, music, video, and changlian services between mobile phones and car machines under the distributed technical support of HarmonyOS. By connecting the video and supporting the switching between the CMS camera and the driving camera, you can capture the beautiful scenery outside the car in real time and share it to Huawei mobile phones with one click.
Car Home Interconnection: Under a Huawei account, users can easily control smart home devices through the control center on the AITO Q&A M5 car machine preset "Warm Home" and "Leave Home with Peace of Mind" scenarios.
Watch interconnection: Users can use HUAWEI WATCH 3 to unlock the vehicle through Bluetooth or NFC, and can also view vehicle information, switch modes, lock the car, open and close the window and find the car through the owner's APP on the mobile phone or watch.
In addition, as a range extended electric vehicle, the AITO Inquisition M5 will also provide a better user experience. It is equipped with HUAWEI DriveONE pure electric drive range extender system (of which the 1.5T four-cylinder range extender is provided by Xilis), Huawei's self-developed front asynchronous AC motor + rear permanent magnet synchronous motor to form an intelligent four-wheel drive system, the peak power can reach 365kW (four-wheel drive performance version peak power 315kW), zero to 100 kilometers acceleration of 4.4 seconds (rear drive standard version acceleration of 4.8 seconds).
The battery pack capacity is 40kWh, and the battery supplier is unknown. Fast charging for 45 minutes can make the power from 20% to 80%, and slow charging for 5 hours can make the power from 20% to 80%. Huawei's self-developed smart charging pile can identify the owner, plug the gun and charge, without additional operation, through 4G and Bluetooth dual connection, to achieve remote control and management, support OTA upgrade, appointment authorization anti-theft charging, remote fault diagnosis and other functions. In addition, it is also possible to formulate an economical charging scheme according to the peak and valley electricity price.
The range extender provided by Xilis uses Miller cycle technology, with a maximum compression ratio of 15:1, ultra-high thermal efficiency of 41%, and a maximum power generation efficiency of 3.2kW·h/L, and the vehicle can achieve CLTC service range of 1242 km (WLTC 1102 km and NEDC 1195 km) when fully charged.
AiTO Q&I M5 has 5 driving modes such as energy saving, comfort, sports, catapult and customization, 3 range-increasing modes such as pure electricity, fuel and automatic, and 4 energy recovery levels such as heavy, medium, comfortable and closed to meet the needs of different users. The all-aluminum chassis features front double wishbones, rear multi-link independent suspension, and the 20-inch Pirelli P Zero high-performance tires and Bosch iBooster intelligent braking system also enhance the driving experience.
In terms of intelligent driving, the AITO Inquisition M5 can reach L2+ level assisted driving, and the sensing equipment includes 1 visual perception camera, 3 millimeter wave radar, 4 APA cameras and 12 long-range ultrasonic radars. These include Bosch's third-generation driver assistance cameras and fifth-generation millimeter-wave radar systems.
Summary: The author expects that even if the market performance of the AITO Q&I M5 is average, it will not affect Huawei's plan to "build a car". From the Xilis SF5 to the AITO Q&A M5, to the next car of the AITO brand, with each step forward, Huawei is closer to becoming a real car manufacturer, and when it will be officially announced, it only depends on the timing. The author actually agrees with Huawei's entry into the smart electric vehicle industry as an oem, which will not only open up a new business area for Huawei, but also bring vitality to the smart electric vehicle market in China and even the world.
To some extent, in view of Huawei's layout and achievements in various fields of smart life, the ecological dream that LeTV Automobile did not realize in that year may also be realized by Huawei.