CES is the international consumer electronics exhibition, from the "electronic products" category can be known, this exhibition held in 1967, originally did not have much to do with the car. From televisions and radios to mobile phones, PCs, and more than half a century, CES has witnessed too many products from science fiction to reality. With the advancement of automobile intelligence, as well as the natural consumption C-bit attribute of automobiles as a bulk commodity. Technologies and products related to smart cars have become an absolute highlight of CES. So at the beginning of 2022, what new technologies and products in the automotive field will be brought by the new CES?
Qualcomm's package of intelligent solutions, how many "riding walls" do 37 car companies have
Car chips in 2021, whether it is the development speed, or the reason for the shortage of goods, in short, in the automotive circle to earn enough eyeballs. Among them, Qualcomm is a leading position in the high-end chip industry and sweeps the momentum of chips in the automotive industry. At the 2022 CES exhibition, Qualcomm's goal seems to be not limited to the chip field. From the fields of digital chassis, driver assistance, intelligent cockpit and cloud services, it almost fully covers the technical solutions required for automotive intelligence. This strategic structure and breadth can't help but remind people of another technology giant Huawei, which is smart in cars, but does not go down to "build cars".
However, the difference is that Qualcomm has brought a luxury list of 37 cooperative car companies, almost covering the "three teachings and nine streams" in the automotive circle. For example, BBA, Volkswagen Group, Volvo, Japanese top three Toyota, Honda, Nissan, GM and Ford, and Stellantis and so on. It is worth noting that the list also includes traditional Chinese brands such as BYD, Geely and Great Wall Motors, as well as the shadows of new forces such as Weilai Automobile. This is very different from Huawei's frequent restrictions in "first-line car companies".
However, although the lineup is huge, at present, Qualcomm's race carousel still needs time to "digest". For example, those who have a clear "timetable" are mainly Polar Star, Renault, and Honda brands. Among them, the Polestar 3 will take the lead in equipping Qualcomm's infotainment system, and Honda will follow suit in the future models. Renault will rely on the Snapdragon platform to equip the next generation of models with the latest connected smart solutions. As for autonomous driving, cloud services and other fields, I am afraid that it is still in the "blueprint" stage.
For car companies that are paying more and more attention to group heating, "each bumping into each other" is indeed not as good as "investing" in Qualcomm, which has been successful in related industries, but this does not mean that eggs have to be put in one basket. For example, as early as 2019, Great Wall Motors and Huawei signed cooperation agreements in the fields of intelligent networking, intelligent driving, and cloud services. As far as overseas car companies are concerned, like GM and Honda Alliance, they also hold Cruise, the second largest self-driving company in the United States. Moreover, at this CES exhibition, Mobileye, which is based on the field of "automatic driving", has stolen a lot of attention.
Can Mobileye land L4 level "automatic driving" in 2024?
Mobileye may not be familiar with the Israeli company, but since 2017, Intel has acquired the company. In the field of advanced driver assistance systems, Mobileye is definitely the head enterprise, and has previously provided technical support to Tesla Autopilot. At this CES exhibition, Mobileye released three "autonomous driving" related chips in one go. And the Extreme Krypton brand is expected to be one of the earliest "early adopters". In addition, Volkswagen Group and Ford will also be equipped with Mobileye's mapping platform to increase the upper limit of the driver assistance system.
The three chips brought by Mobileye are like the release of flagship mobile phones now, which are Ultra, 6L, and 6H versions. Among them, EyeQ 6L is the most "affordable", covering entry-level and high-end L2 level ADAS demand scenarios on the basis of small size and high efficiency, and it is expected to produce energy in mid-2023. EyeQ 6H is capable of supporting visualization, addressing L2+ ADAS needs, and is expected to be in mass production by the end of 2024.
The most noteworthy is the EyeQ Ultra chip, which can meet the needs of L4-level "autonomous driving" scenarios with the blessing of the 5nm process process. However, the chip will be installed in mass production or will wait until after 2025, and Extreme Krypton Automobile seems to be impatient. Krypton may bring L4-class "autonomous" cars in 2024, based on six Mobileye EyeQ 5 chips. At a time when the L3 level is still half-covered, the L4 level "autopilot" schedule is really about to start counting down?
Compared with the previously discussed, Mobileye's mapping platform seems to be more "grounded". The technology can capture the driving data of the vehicle in real time, assist the safe driving of the vehicle in the unspecified route section, and increase the upper limit of the driving assistance system. It is reported that the Volkswagen Group, including its Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat, and Ford motor models built on the MEB platform, will be the first to use this technology. For the performance of the above traditional car companies in intelligent driving assistance, the "patch" of this technology will undoubtedly bring immediate results.
Mercedes-Benz, BMW, continue to "love and kill each other"
On bmw's 100th anniversary, Mercedes-Benz's slogan "Thank you for 100 years of competition, 30 years without you is actually boring" is impressive. At this CES show, the two car companies also seem to have stolen the most attention. Mercedes-Benz brought a pure electric concept car VISION EQXX, a "future product" with energy consumption of less than 10kWh per 100 kilometers and a mileage of more than 1,000 kilometers on a single charge. BMW officially released the iX M60 model and announced the official price of the series in the Chinese market of 746,900-99.69 million yuan.
In addition to the surface "pain points" in the era of automobile electrification with low energy consumption and high endurance, Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX may lay a lot of foundation for the future Mercedes-Benz EQ series in terms of design and technology application. For example, the exterior uses a solar panel-covered roof to power the interior lights, entertainment systems and 12V batteries. Interior 8K resolution, diagonal to reach 47.5 inches of a whole screen, in the current Mercedes-Benz EQS, has begun to see similar design prototypes, presumably the future Mercedes-Benz production car will be designed in this direction. In addition, in the application of electric drives, air conditioners and bionic process manufacturing, Mercedes-Benz has explored this VISION EQXX.
On the other hand, the BMW iX M60 is a solid production model, although the first attempt of the M series to collide with electrification was taken away by the BMW i4 M50. But the iX M60, which has already announced its domestic price, seems to be closer to everyone. As a production car, the BMW iX M60 is equipped with a maximum power of 455 kW and a maximum torque of 1100 N·m on the basis of dual motors in front and rear. In addition, the sound simulation of the new car was performed by Hans Zimmer of the soundtrack "God Level". Will electrification be a watershed moment for the M Series? At least the BMW iX M60 still maintains the aggressiveness of the BMW M series in terms of performance tuning.
In addition, stellantis group also followed up on this CES exhibition crazy "make-up lessons". Chrysler and Citroen brought three concept cars respectively. The Fiat 500, Jeep Wrangler 4xe, Jeep's new generation Grand Cherokee 4xe and other models have also appeared. Sony finally can't hide, after the release of the VISION-S concept car, Sony also hid its own car-making plans. At the exhibition of the VISION-S 02 concept SUV this year, Sony also announced the official establishment of Sony Motors starting in the spring of 2022, and plans to commercialize the concept products.
Written in the end: With the deepening of the automobile in the field of electrification and intelligence, the automobile has begun to have more and more deep consumer electronics attributes from bulk consumer products. The car brands we are familiar with, such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, are striving to maintain their dominant position in the past century. Qualcomm and Sony, which once "did not belong" to this field, are also taking advantage of the opportunity to infiltrate into the field of automobiles. At the beginning of 2022, with the stage of the CES exhibition, people have already smelled a strong smell of gunpowder.