In the past, Li Shufu once said, "The car is four wheels + sofa", and now it seems that such a car can no longer meet the travel needs of modern people, in contrast, the research and development layout combined with user needs can be said to be "the right medicine".
In the past, we thought that the car was just a means of transportation, as long as it was built, it was a good car. With the advancement of science and technology, in the past two years, enterprises have also begun to focus on the field of "intelligent cockpit", so that emerging technologies such as large-size touch screens, multi-screen linkage, intelligent surfaces, emotional engines, and multi-mode interactions have been rapidly popularized. Some people may feel that these functions are very chicken, but it cannot be denied that it is the emergence of these functions that makes cars more and more intelligent.
For example, when you are hungry, you can simply issue a command to let the vehicle take you to the nearest restaurant, for example, when you are tired, the fatigue detection system will step in and remind you to pull over and rest, and sometimes you can make the vehicle turn off the music that is playing with just one gesture. Even some brands of smart cockpits have self-learning capabilities to help cars complete the transition from travel tools to travel stewards.
"Smart cockpit" is the trend of the times
Looking at the market, at present, whether it is main engine manufacturers, parts suppliers, or related technology companies, they are all competing to compete in the field of "smart cockpit" to seize the dominance of the smart cockpit ecosystem.
In addition to the recent fire qualcomm, such as Faurecia, Harman, Desay SV and other parts suppliers and Baidu, Tencent, Ali, Huawei and other technology companies, have taken the smart cockpit as the focus of force, active layout, in this context, the "smart cockpit" market size is also expanding, it is expected that by 2022, the global smart cockpit industry market size is expected to reach 46.1 billion US dollars, with an average annual compound growth rate of 8%.
Take a peek and know the whole leopard, and look at the whole situation in a corner. Therefore, we conclude that the "smart cockpit" is the trend of the times. For a long time to come, the "smart cockpit" will be an important point of strength for enterprises, which is the fundamental reason why so many technology companies have transformed into "smart cars".
New forces of car companies have sprung up
After the concept of "smart cockpit" was proposed, new force car companies also mushroomed like mushrooms, first Weilai, Xiaopeng, Hezhong, followed by ideals, Weima, zero run, and then, even Xiaomi, Sony, and Apple also joined the ranks of car-making, and it is most appropriate to describe them with a sudden rise. Recently, we have also done a lot of tests on a series of popular models in China, including the "smart cockpit" score. Through statistics, it is not difficult to find that the overall performance of independent brands in the "smart cockpit" is significantly better than that of joint venture brands, and the new power brands represented by Wei Xiaoli are riding in this field, almost leading the same level of joint venture models a product generation.
Taking the car machine system as an example, when many joint venture brands are still using "elderly machines", some new power brands have replaced their cars with "smart phones". Maybe you think this metaphor is not appropriate, but when you actually experience the car machine system of the new car companies, you will find that the original car machine can also do the same as the mobile phone to "understand" you.
Promotion also needs to be "the right medicine"
Some people say that this is the unique advantage of Internet car companies, and some people say that this is the inaction of traditional car companies, but what is the truth? In the author's opinion, it is inseparable from the needs of users.
In the past, traditional car companies have been relying on product strength and publicity to sell cars, but in fact, in the eyes of most users, car companies are always on top, until now, there are many luxury brands, users still need to "look up". And if you look closely, you'll see that all nascent brands have one thing in common, which is a focus on user experience.
Taking the new car-making forces represented by Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal as an example, they have moved the user-first culture of the Internet, making the originally high-ranking car companies more approachable, fully absorbing the opinions of users and improving their own products, and then through OTAs, giving vehicles the ability to evolve. At this time, looking back and thinking, why can the car machine "understand you" is not much simpler?
Soon, independent brands also found the problem, so they chose to "co-creation, win-win". Referring to the cases of Changan Automobile (C), Huawei (H), and CATL Times (N), the three parties recently cooperated to launch a new high-end new energy brand - AVATR Avita. Among them, Changan Automobile occupies the largest stake, shouldering the final manufacturing work to ensure the high-end quality control and strength of the product; the Ningde era represents the pioneering ability in the field of electric vehicle batteries today; Huawei Huawei Inside represents the top level of the intelligent technology ecology of mass production and loading.
Of course, this is also indispensable to co-creation with users - only by allowing users to directly participate in the whole process of product definition, design, research and development and landing, becoming the owner and co-builder of the brand, can we have the opportunity to make truly popular products. In fact, not only Avita, but now basically all independent brands have begun to work hard in this regard, understanding user needs through user co-creation, and further improving their own "smart cockpit".
The "elephant turn" of traditional car companies
In terms of improving user experience, joint venture car companies are also actively breaking the circle.
For example, in the field of in-car digitalization, the BMW Group is actively exploring how to create a better travel experience through digital technology based on customer needs. Ford China also said that the company will accelerate the upgrading of electrification, intelligence and consumer experience, and will continue to focus deeply on the "consumer-centric" strategy to transform to a full-scale industry-leading business model.
What we can expect is that in the future, in the field of intelligent cockpits, there will be a contest between traditional car companies and new power car companies. However, compared with independent brands and new power car companies, the traditional joint venture car companies are more like an elephant, and if they want to complete the turnaround, there are many special requirements for the review of parts suppliers compared with other fields, which takes a certain amount of time.
However, although the entry is late, but in some joint venture car companies in the high-end models, the full LCD instrument, suspension of the central control screen, HUD head-up display these configurations have basically landed, and even the new generation of Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been able to achieve AR real-world navigation, the oversized head-up display with augmented reality function as the unique configuration of the same level, while reducing distraction while making driving more relaxed and convenient, the sense of technology is not inferior, and indeed has the prototype of the intelligent cockpit.
On the other hand, traditional car companies have also explored architecture, such as Geely's SEA Haohan Intelligent Architecture and SAIC's SIGMA Intelligent Global Modular Architecture, which have attracted widespread attention from the outside world. At present, there are still many traditional joint venture car companies are working in this direction, such as volkswagen's ID. series electric vehicle adaptation of the E3 electronic and electrical architecture, such as Ford's independent research and development of SYNC+ car machine system, and then such as the Japanese car owners to play the intelligent guide interconnection. With the advancement of technology, the cars of the future will increasingly take into account people's travel demands for safety and entertainment.
The development of the industry depends on the cooperation of all parties
Of course, the human-machine interaction function of the smart cockpit can only be continuously upgraded by generating better feedback through a large amount of data supplemented by algorithm training. Therefore, the most important thing is to solve the problem of the "data island" effect of traditional car companies. If in the process of cooperation, car companies are not willing to disclose and share data, then the creation of product functions will also be limited, and even have an irreversible impact on the user experience.
It can be seen that the development of the intelligent cockpit industry needs to rely on the cooperation of all parties, and all parties involved in the industrial chain at this stage are trying to grasp the dominant power on the basis of cooperation, which will lead to the difficulty of reaching a consensus on the distribution of benefits and cooperation models by multiple parties. Nowadays, the large-scale industrialization of intelligent cockpit has become a problem that upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain must think about and solve, how to develop better? This is worth pondering.
Write at the end
Regarding the "smart cockpit", in fact, the industry does not have a clear conclusion, because the form of the "smart cockpit" is constantly changing with the changes in consumer demand. However, one thing is certain, that is, the emergence of smart cockpits has enriched the value proposition of the car, making the car not only a travel transportation tool, but also a "third living space" for mobile travel. Although there are still many problems to be solved in the field of "smart cockpits", it is foreseeable that the cars of the future will be more intelligent and more in line with our emotional needs.