Yes.
Technology giants have laid out cars, and if they do not become hunters first, they will become prey.
Author | Cosca
Edit | Wen Liang
The car market in 2021 is very topical.
Despite the double "blow" of the epidemic and chip shortage, China's new energy vehicle market is still booming.
The current car industry is like a tempting cake. The voice of Baidu, Xiaomi and other car-making news has not yet fallen, and Sony and Foxconn have also announced their admission...
For a time, the battlefield of new energy car manufacturing was full of smoke, and some netizens even joked: "There are so many car-making companies, and the roads are not enough."
Why are people so keen on "building cars"? The voice that is closer to consensus is: the battle for the next super traffic entrance. After all, if you don't become a hunter, you will become a prey, and joining in it may be one of the best options.
The crossover players who have entered the game of car building are like waving a chaotic sky Aya, stimulating the new kinetic energy of car building. They break the rules, they create the rules; they deconstruct the car, they redefine the car.
Among the many "excellent students", the new intelligent driving selected the six most anticipated cross-border models in the next five years to feast on you.
Jidu car robot, latecomers to the top
On January 19 this year, Jidu announced the appearance of the first automotive robot concept car.
The Jidu brand is jointly created by Baidu and Geely, and as soon as the prototype of its concept car is unveiled, the lifting lidar that looms on both sides of the hood leaves a "glimpse" in people's hearts.
On the other hand, jidu car robots are like holding a pipa and half-covering their faces, but there is very little information about their new cars on the Internet.
Official information shows that the appearance of the mass production car robot will maintain 90% consistency with the concept car. It is equipped with the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin SoC, which has L4 level autonomous driving capability, and will be delivered in 2023.
Due to the high cost of the intelligent part, the relevant person in charge said that the price of this car will be more than 200,000 yuan.
Figure note: Concept map of automotive robot announced by Jidu (Image source Baidu)
"Automotive robots are our judgments about the future of automobile development." At last year's Baidu AI Developer Conference, Robin Li reiterated it again.
With all kinds of giants besieging the car-making track in multiple ways, what ability does Jidu have to highlight the siege?
In Robin Li's view, Jidu automotive robots mainly have three magic weapons running through the lifeline: free movement, natural communication, and self-growth.
Jidu's auto robot has L4 level of automatic driving capabilities and can "move freely";
The car robot will realize the accurate recognition of human-vehicle interaction and speech semantics, so that the car and the person can "communicate naturally".
Auto robots can carry out self-learning and iteration according to the user's usage habits to achieve "self-growth".
Software and data have always been the "strategic fortress" of new energy vehicles, and Baidu has many advantages in this "must-compete land".
More than 18 million kilometers of autonomous driving road test data accumulation, and in the field of artificial intelligence layout for many years, its core technology engine - Baidu Brain, has developed into a technologically leading software and hardware integrated AI large-scale production platform, in high-definition maps, AI intelligent voice and image processing technology and other aspects are far beyond the traditional manufacturers.
In addition to software, Baidu has been constantly strengthening in recent years at the indispensable hardware level of car manufacturing.
As early as 2017, Baidu and WM had intersected, with in-depth cooperation and joint research and development. On the other hand, there are still Auspicious platforms, and related problems may be solved.
For Baidu, competitors are emerging in an endless stream or one of the biggest challenges. Giants such as Ali, Huawei, and Xiaomi have their own strengths, and the state of contention among hundreds of schools has begun day by day.
Building a car is an uphill battle. How Jidu tells the story of car building, we will wait and see.
"Fight for Xiaomi cars"
Photo note: Lei Jun on Xiaomi Investment Day in 2021 (Image source Automobile Commune)
"Xiaomi Auto is the last major entrepreneurial project in my life, willing to bet on the full reputation of life, personally lead the team, and fight for Xiaomi Auto!"
Lei Jun's vigor on the stage also made Xiaomi's car finally settle.
After that, the Xiaomi car was equipped with the highest horsepower engine and roared forward. Recently, they signed a cooperation agreement with the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone.
According to the agreement, the Xiaomi Automobile project will build an absced base, sales headquarters, R&D headquarters, and an annual vehicle plant with an annual output of 300,000 units in Yizhuang, and it is expected that the first vehicle will roll off the production line and mass production in 2024.
What will the first "Mi Car" look like?
Its mystery has not been lifted to this day. Lei Jun once revealed in the live broadcast that Xiaomi's first car is positioned in the middle and high-end, the price is about 100,000 - 300,000 yuan range, the specific model may be a car or SUV.
Compared with the car robot whose appearance and interior have been basically determined by the degree of integration, Xiaomi Car has yet to break through the ground, and the soil is only the embryo of the imagination for the time being.
However, there have been fruit powders that have drawn the Xiaomi Car 1 in their hearts. In his vision, Xiaomi's first car will be a four-door coupe with four versions to choose from, simple and atmospheric and full of technology.
In terms of core configuration, it supports up to 2.9s 100 km/h acceleration, 800V wireless charging, 1200KM endurance, and has configurations such as all-scenario intelligent assisted driving, V2V vehicle connection coordination, and centralized EEA architecture.
There is also the most attractive point, it will support the MIUI full chain Mijia ecosystem.
Image note: Xiaomi car 1 drawn by fans. (Source Internet)
Compared with jidu car manufacturing, Xiaomi car manufacturing is slightly "money" worry-free: 100 billion yuan of reserve funds, the first phase of investment of 10 billion yuan, the next 10 years will be added to 10 billion US dollars.
What is the concept of $10 billion in terms of car building?
Some insiders believe that if Xiaomi takes the old road of traditional car-making giants, involving parts, software systems self-research, and vehicle assembly, this amount is more difficult.
Some supporters believe that Xiaopeng Motors, founded in 2015, has only about 30 billion yuan in cash reserves, and 10 billion US dollars is enough.
Although the future situation is very good, after all, the word "loss" is still the current industry keyword.
"I know that building a car burns money, but I didn't expect to burn money like this." Li Bin, CEO of Weilai Automobile, once poured bitter water.
For this question, Lei Jun also overbearingly responded, "Can afford to lose"!
Lei Jun believes that Xiaomi has three major advantages in making cars: Xiaomi mode (technology + efficiency), Xiaomi brand and user accumulation, and fully intelligent ecology.
From the technical side, xiaomi has been advocating technology-oriented in the past 11 years, coupled with the unique core concept of the millet model, so that millet is invincible in the competition in the same industry.
From the side of the channel, there are 10,000 stores all over the streets and alleys, envying many new car-making forces that are still struggling to lay channels.
From the user side, the strength accumulated by Xiaomi users is beyond doubt, and the combat effectiveness of "rice noodles" can be compared to "fruit powder". Thinking back to that year, the Xiaomi Mi 9 was successful in its first sale, and the "rice noodles" queued up all night more enthusiastically than the "fruit powder".
At present, Xiaomi's intelligent ecosystem has begun to take shape, and its intelligent hardware can be connected to the Xiaomi Internet of Things platform, and I believe that Xiaomi cars are no exception.
However, car manufacturing is not achieved overnight, "Xiaomi does not have direct experience in automobile manufacturing at present, and it needs to cross multiple thresholds such as quality, production capacity, delivery, and qualification in the future." In addition, the entry time is relatively late, and it is difficult to make up for the shortcomings and achieve transcendence in a limited time. In this regard, industry analyst Yu Shengmei has expressed concern.
Building a car is both an outlet and a risk. Lei Jun also hesitated several times whether to go down. But after the entanglement, he chose to "gamble everything" and set off to build a car track.
"I am ready to sprint for at least 5 to 10 years, and we will face this new journey with great dedication, great awe and enduring patience."
This gamble, I hope Xiaomi laughs to the end.
Huawei builds cars and stands out from the siege
At the new product launch last winter, AITO, a high-end automobile brand jointly built by Huawei and Jinkang Cyris, finally lifted the veil and announced the first luxury SUV equipped with the latest Hongmeng smart cockpit - The Inquisitive M5.
Q&I M5 is known as "built according to the standard of Million Luxury Car", and the pre-price after comprehensive subsidies is about 250,000-320,000 yuan. As early as January this year, the M5 was agreed upon, and it has been delivered in February.
According to reports, the Hongmeng intelligent cockpit can allow the vehicle to seamlessly circulate information with people, mobile phones, smart homes, etc., and has high-level voice interaction, intelligent xiaoyi suggestions, on-board maps Petal Maps, all-round digital car keys and other "black technologies".
Illustration Note: The physical image of the M5
"From AUTO to AITO, there is only a letter difference, but the biggest difference is the intelligent and intelligent experience. Huawei's advanced ICT technology and smart car solutions will help AITO bring consumers the ultimate and intelligent travel experience. For the AITO brand, Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, said.
"Huawei has all the capabilities to build a car, but it doesn't build a car. Huawei will help car companies build and sell good cars. Although Yu Chengdong repeatedly emphasized this view. But on the Q&I M5, Huawei's participation and control are significantly far more than previous auto projects.
The intelligent cockpit and electric drive system are all Huawei products, and the models are also jointly built by the industrial design team, software team, and user experience team of Huawei's consumer business. Even people in the industry have sighed that in addition to not hanging up the Huawei logo, the M5 has actually been infinitely close to Huawei's "pro-son".
Don't want to build a car does not mean that you can't build a car, Huawei has almost no shortcomings in existing technology, in the words of a supplier, it lacks only chassis and driving control technology.
Yu Chengdong is also very confident in Huawei's strength, "In the era of intelligent vehicles, networking, and electrification, Huawei has done every core component needed for the car." With the blessing of its own strong technical genes, intelligence has become Huawei's traditional strength. Based on the advantages of Huawei's Hongmeng system, it can help it have more advantages than other car companies in the human-computer interaction of smart cars.
For Huawei, creating an ecosystem may be more tempting than building a car.
Most car companies want to build their own ecosystems. But not all car companies have such strength and energy. If the Hongmeng system is widely used in many models, it will be a win-win situation: Huawei Hongmeng can occupy a larger market share, and other car companies can also specialize in car manufacturing.
In addition, Huawei can also focus more on the upstream of the industrial chain, after all, the current international business is blocked layer by layer, which undoubtedly helps Huawei avoid the capital threshold for car manufacturing.
However, Huawei's "empowering" car manufacturing is not a source of left and right. In June last year, CHEN Hong, chairman of SAIC, said at a shareholders' meeting that if it cooperates with third-party companies such as Huawei in terms of autonomous driving, Huawei will become the soul, and SAIC will become the body.
SAIC's attitude may also represent the attitude of most traditional automakers. Some analysts believe that if Huawei's goal is to shape itself into a Qualcomm (industry chain) + Google (system) in the mobile phone industry, there is still a long way to go.
As far as the product is concerned, although Huawei's deep imprint of the M5 is full of combat effectiveness, it is not leading. It continues Bosch's solution and does not use Huawei's high-end intelligent driving solution. Yan Jinghui, an analyst in the automotive industry, said Huawei's move may be to balance costs.
Q&I M5 is positioned in the domestic high-end market, this track has always been lively, Tesla, "Wei Xiaoli", Lantu, Alta and so on are among the active figures. There are also "tiger-eyed" technology giants, such as Apple, Baidu, Xiaomi, etc.
Whether Huawei can break through in the gladiatorial arena where the masters are gathered, time will eventually give the answer.
Apple makes a car, and if it doesn't sound, it's already a hit
"Build a driverless car without a steering wheel!" You also have to build your own self-driving chips. ”
On December 22, According to Reuters, Apple is advancing the car project and plans to put it into production in 2024.
The report speculates that Apple's new model may incorporate coupe and SUV elements, and will be equipped with high-level automatic driving capabilities.
Over the past few years, apple cars have long been an open secret. But only known, Apple's car project is codenamed "Project Titan", and the division is led by Kevin Lynch, the head of Apple Watch business.
Recently, new revelations revealed that Apple has made new progress on the autopilot chip, which will have a profound impact on the underlying software of the autopilot system.
At the same time, a number of foreign media and investment institutions predict that Apple cars will be listed for sale in 2024-2025.
Between Apple's tight-lipped plans for its own car, everyone can only speculate on the parameters and functions of the model from its patent information. There have been foreign websites according to the relevant patents, drawn out the AppleCar hypothetical map.
As can be seen from the appearance, it has the body contour of a coupe, but the chassis of the car is relatively high, which is similar to the SUV model. The front and rear windshields run down from the roof and are integrated, and the overall line is similar to Apple's other main line products, simple and smooth.
Figure Note: A hypothetical diagram of AppleCar drawn by a foreign website. (Source Internet)
In addition, the door adopts a double door design, and the seats in the car are also turned in direction, so that passengers can ride face to face.
The center control is a large touchscreen like the iPad that will be highly integrated with Apple's existing services and devices.
According to Apple's vision, the fully autonomous car will remove the steering wheel and pedals, and the interior will be similar to the Life Style model launched by the electric car rookie Canoo.
Although Apple's car is mysterious, the recognition of the industry is not low. After all, it is a top technology giant that has launched revolutionary products such as iPhones and Macs.
Steve Westley, founder and managing partner of venture capital firm The Westly Group, believes that Apple will become the most recognized manufacturer in the electric vehicle market along with Tesla.
And Apple's own investment in car manufacturing has also made a bloody investment.
First, he dug people everywhere. For example, Ulrich Kranz, the father of BMW's i series, led the team to develop BMW's first generation of electric vehicles; Audi's exclusive chassis designer Manfred Harrer; Tesla's director of autopilot systems CJ. Moore and so on.
In the past five years, Apple has applied for a large number of patents like a patent maniac. It covers charging, on-board systems, body structure optimization and other aspects. Specific projects include systems that enhance chassis stability, retractable bumpers, human-computer interaction that provides automatic graphics and text outside the car, biometrics that detect whether a driver is drunk or not, and more.
However, Apple's road to car building has not been smooth.
In August alone, test cars powered by Apple's self-driving technology caused two accidents. The director of the Apple car project has also changed many times, and after several rotations of coaching, I don't know if the connection and progress of the Titan project have been affected.
Moreover, Apple's experience in the field of mobile phones cannot be completely copied to the car.
Compared with fuel vehicles, electric vehicles have mostly different components, but the structure is homologous. The cutting-edge technology of these structures is still controlled by traditional car companies, such as car chassis, frames, etc., which are not achieved overnight. Although Apple is a winning general in the field of science and technology, it is a "layman" in the automotive industry, which may be a major difficulty for Apple.
But after all, Tesla, which is much smaller than Apple, has come over, and many car companies have also come. And these obstacles, in the face of the "rich and willful" Apple, may not be anything.
Sony made a car, can drink a cup of nothing?
At CES 2022, Kenichiro Yoshida threw a heavy blow, "Sony will redefine (vehicle) mobility" .
Behind him, it is sony's two main pure electric concept cars: the coupe vision S and the SUV model VISION-S 02.
Kenichiro Yoshida also announced, "To further accelerate the development of the mobile experience and make new proposals, Sony plans to establish an operating company, Sony Mobility Inc. this spring." ”
Photo note: VISION S and VISION-S 02 at CES 2022. (Image source Fuentitech)
In terms of configuration, both new cars use large-size full-touch screens in the front row, from left to right, which are full LCD meters and two multimedia displays. The number of sensors has also been upgraded from 33 shown last year to 40, among which the SPAD lidar sensor (laser receiving chip) called IMX459 is the "secret weapon" of Sony's car.
Relying on Sony's dual-layer image sensor stacking technology, the IMX459 can carry thousands of ultra-high-definition radars with equivalent lines, making the car feel like it has a "golden eye of fire", which can calculate distance information faster and generate 3D point cloud images.
In terms of appearance, the dimensions of VISION S and VISION-S 02 are relatively large, and the industry speculates that it is to better open the Chinese market.
However, some professionals believe that the innovation of Sony's first model needs to be improved, and the molding is more like a reference to the design of existing cars, which may not be favored by "well-informed" Chinese consumers.
Sony's entry into China with electronic products can be traced back to the period of reform and opening up. Now more than forty years later, Sony has a certain consumer base in China. If we say that as our "old acquaintances", Sony Automobile may not have to worry too much about business promotion and volume.
At the same time, compared with internet companies to build cars, Sony also has strong technical accumulation in the fields of sensors and cameras, which are also important sensing devices for new energy vehicles.
But on the battlefield of China's new energy vehicles, Sony still has a strong opponent, that is, Sony itself.
"Hesitation" seems to have become a big impression of Sony, especially in the mobile phone business, Sony will be "indecisive" throughout the beginning and end.
Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, once commented, "Sony is also hesitant and will not innovate in the car-making business, from the perspective of the actions of the past two years, Sony is more in the temptation, rather than preparing for the real car and selling cars, and now although the car has been launched, the mass production listing schedule should still be planned for Sony." ”
However, the competition in the new energy vehicle market is fierce and rapidly changing, and the rolling forward industry will not stop for any forward-looking enterprises for a moment.
Sail against the current, and if you don't advance, you will retreat. For Sony, the era of smartphones has been missed, and the era of smart cars really cannot be missed anymore.
Foxconn builds cars, and can attack and retreat
Some people say how hot the new energy automobile industry is, as can be seen from Foxconn's decision to build cars.
"The car is just an iPhone with four wheels, so why can't we build an electric car if we can build an iPhone?" Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou's former rhetoric of marching into the army is still in his ears.
In October last year, Foxconn finally completed the car, announced the establishment of a pure electric vehicle brand - Foxtron, and launched three models in one go: Model C, Model E and Model T.
Image note: Model C, Model E, and Model T at the launch site (Source Auto Bild)
The key components of the new car three-electric system are independently developed, and the body part is compatible with a variety of models, including hatchbacks, cars, SUVs, AND MPVs, and can be adjusted accordingly according to the customer's own model positioning.
Model C is positioned as a pure electric medium-sized SUV with an acceleration time of 3.8 seconds from 0-100km/h, a range of 700km, and a price of less than NT$10 million (about 230,000 yuan), and is expected to debut in 2023.
The Model E is even more popular, and it was this car that Gou himself drove into the exhibition hall on the same day.
Positioned as a luxury flagship sedan aimed at mid- and high-end consumers and business people, it is co-created by Foxtron and the italian design company Pininfarina, and accelerates from 100 kilometers in only 2.8 seconds, approaching the level of racing.
The EEA architecture and ADAS system of the MIH platform will also appear on the Model E, and the central control is the main driving position triple screen. There is also a camera on the B-pillar of the Model E for face recognition to enter the car.
Illustration: Interior diagram of model E (Source Electric Planet News)
The most prominent highlight of the appearance is the four screens located in the front and back of the car, left and right. It can display a variety of combined animations to alert pedestrians and show the status of vehicles. There was also a lovely little feature to give road participants a thumbs up.
The Model E is expected to come after the Model C, as early as 2024.
Image note: Posted a live demo of the Model E's like function (Image source Electric Planet News)
The Model T is an electric bus positioned with intelligent transportation. It is reported that the new car can warn pedestrians through vision and hearing, with a maximum speed of more than 120 kilometers per hour, equipped with radar to detect the surrounding environment. Deliveries are available as early as this year.
Hon Hai Technology, the parent company of Foxconn, said that the key to the rapid debut of these three models in just one year is thanks to Hon Hai's MIH open platform, which standardizes, modularizes and elasticizes the car manufacturing platform, and the technology and resources of global partners can be gathered.
At the same time, it has also launched its advanced driver assistance system, and its partner Mobile Drive will create a complete set of software ecosystems interconnected with the cloud, namely Mobile Drive Cloud. These include smart cockpits, software applications, OTAs, content recommendations, and more.
Illustration: Introduction to the MobileDrive Ecosystem for Vehicle Service architecture (Source: Electric Planet News)
For a long time, Foxconn has been known as a "foundry" behind Apple.
Some people say that Foxconn's situation is not optimistic, and it chose to build a car to avoid sitting still. Before the old partner Apple "cast a wide net" to find another good friend, did not pay more attention to Foxconn because of the past friendship of three points; after the Foxconn mobile phone business "territory" was constantly encroached on by rookies. Therefore, self-reliance on the banner of car building is a must-take move.
In fact, Foxconn's "car-making dream" can be traced back to 2005.
At that time, Foxconn spent 370 million yuan to acquire 100% of the shares of Taiwan's Aetna Electric, which mainly produced and manufactured battery lines and automotive electronic equipment such as reversing radar, and then Foxconn gradually expanded its territory, step by step "expanding the territory" to today.
Unlike other cross-border car manufacturers, Foxconn has previously laid out its own core technology in the automotive industry, with technical reserves in the fields of batteries, electric drive systems and automatic driving, and has entered the supply chain of Tesla, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other car companies.
And Foxconn has the capital to "move in and out". Even if foxtron's new car fails to be successfully promoted and mass-produced, Foxconn can completely pull out and continue to focus on its own "OEM" old business.
Foxconn's persistence in the new energy vehicle industry is also a manifestation of its unwillingness to remain a vassal. But automakers and foundries have a conflict in the underlying logic.
In the top-down automotive industry supply chain, the automaker is the "chain owner" and is responsible for the resource integration of the supply chain. Foundries are "chain-tails" that only need to provide raw materials for production. This is clearly Foxconn's current unavoidable technology gap.
Liu Yangwei, chairman of Hon Hai Technology, is very confident, "If Tesla is the iPhone of the electric vehicle industry, I hope that Foxconn can become the Android of the electric vehicle industry." After all, there are three models in a year, and it can still be seen that Foxconn has the confidence to build cars.
Car-making and mobile phone processing cannot be juxtaposed. The road is long, and Foxconn's understanding of the integration of upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and the integration of software and hardware may need to be practiced again. We also wait and see what kind of answer Sheet Foxconn will eventually hand over.
Write at the end:
Car building is a very tempting but thorny industry.
It has been mentioned that when technology giants begin to enter the automotive market, it is expected to revolutionize the structure of the existing automotive industry.
Also netizens joked: In the car layout, the players who do not build cars want to become Qualcomm + Google in the mobile phone industry; the players who make cars want to become Apple in the mobile phone industry.
But entering the car industry is only the first step, and the final victory or defeat depends on the product.
link:
http://stock.jrj.com.cn/2021/10/27075733759219.shtml
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-11-05/doc-iktzqtyu5501346.shtml
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-01-22/doc-ikftssan9563626.shtml
https://www.iautodaily.com/index.php?c=article&id=18768
https://chedongxi.com/p/260631.html
https://www.jiemian.com/article/6733378.html
https://www.anewsday.com/post/215183.html
https://chejiahao.autohome.com.cn/info/10075418
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