With the rapid development of intelligent networking technology, the Mainland Internet of Vehicles has been in a leading position in the world. At present, the biggest application scenario of the Internet of Vehicles should be assisted driving and automatic driving. When cars develop to high-level autonomous driving, V2X must be popularized, and then intelligent networking can truly move towards smart travel.
Recently, Sun Qi, president of the Pioneer Electronics Research Institute, and Li Peng, general manager of the front-loading product line of Gaoxin Internet of Vehicles, were interviewed by the reporter of China Automotive News, and they discussed from the perspective of automotive electronics suppliers and communication technology suppliers, the current process of China's Car Networking, how to develop intelligent vehicles in the 5G+V2X era, what challenges are they facing, and how do enterprises respond?
China Automotive News: At what stage is the current development of intelligent and connected vehicle technology?
Sun Qi, President of Pioneer Electronics Research Institute
Sun Qi: The Internet of Vehicles began abroad, around 2000 3G was not yet popularized, Japan, Europe, the United States and other countries and regions use early wireless communication technology to achieve interaction between cars. After 2012, 3G technology has been widely used, China began to vigorously develop the Internet of Vehicles industry, application scenarios have gradually enriched, such as cloud voice recognition vehicle information, user data upload to the cloud, as well as remote opening of vehicle doors and windows. After the popularization of 4G, the application of the Internet of Vehicles is more abundant, online video, car WeChat, navigation, driving recorder, video content uploaded to the cloud in real time, analysis of user driving habits, fatigue status, etc., to provide personalized and accurate services for car owners.
In summary, the lowest technical support of the Internet of Vehicles is mobile communication technology. Therefore, the entire development process of the Internet of Vehicles is closely related to the innovation of mobile communication technology. Of course, for communication technology, the automotive field is more complex than the consumer and industrial fields, its safety requirements are more stringent, and the development and verification cycle of vehicle-grade parts is longer.
Li Peng: According to the planning of the mainland's "Intelligent Connected Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" and combined with the market's forecast, in 2025, intelligent networking will become the standard for new cars, and the assembly rate will reach more than 90%. The intelligent networking of the vehicle will become the basic attribute of the car like the car tire, and the new car that is not equipped with the intelligent network connection in the future may be "deducted points".
China Automotive News: At present, how is the application of C-V2X technology in mainland China?
Li Peng, general manager of Gaoxin's front-loading product line of the Internet of Vehicles
Li Peng: Starting from 2019, the C-V2X "four-span" interconnection will be realized in 2020, and the scenario construction and C-V2X application prospective research have been completed. C-V2X is to achieve automatic driving and production, in addition to cockpit entertainment, automatic driving is the biggest value-added point of the entire car entertainment, but also consumers want to experience and have the function.
There are two technical evolution routes for autonomous driving, one is bicycle intelligence, which is realized through sensing technologies such as cameras, lidar, and millimeter-wave radar; the other is networked intelligence, through C-V2X technology, to achieve full-scene coverage. At present, the progress of these two technical routes is very fast, but there are also their own technical bottlenecks, and they are currently unable to achieve full scene coverage. In order to achieve L5-level automatic driving, that is, all-scenario autonomous driving, the future technical solution will be a fusion technology of bicycle intelligence and networking intelligence.
China Automotive News: What supporting and perfect is needed for the development of smart travel scenarios, and what are the constraints on development?
Sun Qi: Smart travel is a new application scenario for the development of intelligent and connected vehicles. At present, the smart travel industry has just started. In my opinion, the real smart travel must achieve several elements: one is the coverage rate of the Internet of Vehicles; the second is the coverage of bicycle intelligence; and the third is the coverage of the transportation network facility rate.
At present, there are several aspects of constraints, one is the government's infrastructure investment, traffic lights, poles, intersections and other transportation facilities network coverage, in addition to the support for industries and enterprises; the second is the legislative process, automatic driving, vehicle networking related laws and regulations, etc.; the third is in the face of massive data processing and computing power, can the computing power keep up.
Li Peng: Smart travel is inseparable from the intelligent construction of the entire city, which is part of the smart city. From a technical point of view, one is the perception of the Internet of Things; the second is information fusion; and the third is the cloud computing capability. All three parts need to be continuously improved and improved.
There are three main constraints to development: first, the maturity of technology; second, the soundness of the legal system; and third, the coverage of infrastructure construction.
China Automotive News: What are the challenges for communication companies due to the rapid development of intelligent and connected vehicles?
Li Peng: At present, the biggest challenge is the rapid evolution of mobile communication technology, such as from 2G/3G/4G to 5G/6G, the rapid iteration of technology and the corresponding chip development is not completely matched. The High Emerging Vehicle Team has nearly 20 years of experience in mobile communications, and we have invested heavily in the rapid iteration and stability of communication technologies. This is also our core competency.
Previously, there was relatively little intersection between communication companies and automobiles, and with intelligent network technology as a link, the communication industry and the automotive industry embraced and intersected. How the communication industry can help the development of automotive networking can be cut from several aspects: First, improve reliability. The core of the century-old automobile industry is driving safety, and intelligent networked vehicles need high-reliability communication modules. The second is to improve compatibility, compatibility with the communication networks of various operators, and compatibility with different vehicles. The third is to improve ease of use, how to help customers better and faster secondary development, etc. For example, Gaoxin provides a more convenient software architecture in software and a richer interface form in hardware.
China Automotive News: What are the advantages of Pioneer Electronics in the field of in-vehicle?
Pictured: Pioneer High-Tech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
Sun Qi: Pioneer High-Tech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., established in 2000. Originally a wholly Japanese-owned company, it carried out share reform in 2002, and now the Chinese side holds more than 85% of the shares, and has become an independent brand automotive electronics enterprise.
For more than 20 years, Pioneer has been supporting automotive electronics for Main Engine factories such as Lexus, Toyota and Honda. We mainly have three categories of products, one is the car central control and intelligent cockpit; the second is the car audio system; the third is the streaming media rearview mirror.
Pioneer's competitive advantage is reflected in three aspects, one is the quality control system, engineering design, production process, production and assembly, full quality management and after-sales service, can provide customers with "one-stop" services. This is our core competency. Second, in terms of R&D capabilities, Pioneer has many years of experience in the field of automotive electronics, and the entire core R&D team remains in our research institute after independence. Our annual R&D investment accounts for 10% of our revenue, of which 80% is invested in these two areas. Third, in terms of channels and costs, as a global veteran automotive electronics company, we have rich global resource platform resources and a number of excellent Chinese local suppliers.
China Automotive News: What is the development trend of automotive electronics? What are the challenges for autonomous enterprises?
Sun Qi: In addition to Japanese car companies, we also give xiaopeng and other new force car companies supporting products. Through cooperation with local car companies, we found that the current degree of automotive electronics is getting higher and higher, and it will integrate different functions and different products together.
In response to this trend, we have laid out a smart cockpit, integrating the traditional central control, instrument Tbox remote control system, etc. in a domain controller. Lately, we've invested heavily in smart cockpit domain controllers. In addition, the intelligent cockpit audio external power amplifier has relatively high heat requirements and is not easy to be integrated into the product. For such advantageous technologies, we will continue to do a deep and refined job. In addition, for the future development trend of automotive electronics, we will also boldly innovate and conduct forward-looking research.
Pioneer has a clear development goal, one is to land in the domestic secondary market; the second is to improve research and development capabilities, in the next 2 years, the team expanded to more than 300 people, especially in the field of internet of vehicles and intelligent cockpits, we must increase investment and strive to become a leading enterprise in the industry; the third is intelligent production, and strive to achieve intelligent "black light factory" by 2025.
China Automotive News: What cooperation does Pioneer and Xingxin have in the field of intelligent networking?
Figure: High emerging module
Sun Qi: In fact, pioneers and Gao Xinxing have been cooperating in the field of internet of vehicles for a long time. At present, pioneers use high-emerging 4G module module modules, and will be iteratively upgraded to 5G modules in the future, such as some of our products with very high market share - Toyota Camry models on the central control products, are the use of high-emerging communication modules.
Gao Xinxing is the first supplier in China that can independently develop vehicle-grade communication modules, Pioneer also has a very deep history and technical heritage in the field of vehicles, and we have rich customer resources, have a relatively good reputation of customers, and the cooperation between the two sides is definitely a win-win complement.
Li Peng: Pioneer is the world's leading automotive electronics tier1, and we and Pioneer have established strategic cooperation in the field of intelligent networking for a long time. At present, the cooperation between the two sides is mainly 4G modules, and the next 5G module cooperation is also being carried out.
China Automotive News: What is the impact of the continuous shortage of chips in the past two years on the automotive industry and enterprises?
Li Peng: In the past two years, due to the continuous spread of the epidemic and other factors, the entire supply side of automotive chips has been very tight. Gao Xinxing has also been affected by the lack of supply. Through the unremitting efforts of our supply chain team, we strive to ensure the supply of our customers. There are four main reasons for the continuous supply: one is that the customer forecast is accurate and the demand is relatively stable; the other is that Gao Xinxing has a long-term strategic cooperation agreement with the supplier, and we will lock in the share in the early stage to ensure supply. Third, we have a preparatory plan, and if there are indeed some material supply difficulties, we have a quick alternative. The fourth is the support and understanding of customers. We are also very grateful to pioneer customers for their understanding and support during the epidemic, and we have worked together to overcome difficulties and successfully achieve the goal of guaranteeing supply.
Sun Qi: At present, intelligent components such as body control and intelligent cockpit are seriously lacking in cores. It can be said that the current supply of automotive chips is very tight. The lack of core has brought a lot of trouble, such as many car companies stopped production, but it also brought opportunities for localization and replacement to independent enterprises such as Horizon and Core Chi.
At present, new energy vehicles are the outlet, the on-board chip is the outlet of the outlet, we must not only see the lack of core supply brought about by the trouble, but also to explore the opportunities. Under the super outlet, independent enterprises should join forces to help China's intelligent and connected cars fly faster, higher and longer.
Source: China Automotive News