Leading enterprises accelerate cross-border intelligent shift and speed up of new energy vehicles

Reporter Yang Rangchen and Quartz Jing report from Shanghai

As the intelligent driving of automobiles enters the second half, more and more car companies have begun to accelerate the introduction of "foreign aid" to cooperate in car manufacturing.

According to relevant media reports, JAC (600418. SH) and Huawei Digital Power signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing. According to the agreement, the two parties will focus on the trinity of new energy vehicles, machines and chargers, focusing on the development and application of new energy vehicle models/platform technologies, the application and development and manufacturing of intelligent electric components, the construction and operation of new energy vehicle charging networks, and the internationalization of new energy vehicles.

This is not the first time JAC has cooperated with Huawei. In November last year, JAC Motors issued an announcement saying that JAC Motors and Huawei terminals will join forces and complement each other's advantages. Based on Huawei's intelligent vehicle solutions, the two parties will cooperate in product development, manufacturing, sales, and service. ”

In fact, in addition to JAC, a number of car companies have officially announced their cooperation with Huawei so far. The reporter of "China Business Daily" noticed that many car companies, including Dongfeng Motor, Changan Automobile, and VOYAH Automobile, have announced cooperation with Huawei to jointly create smart car products.

However, with the occurrence of smart car traffic accidents in recent years, the balance between the homogeneity of smart home experience and safety performance has begun to surface. In an interview with a reporter from China Business Daily, a number of industry insiders said that cooperation with leading technology companies is very important for the intelligent transformation of traditional car companies, but with the gradual increase in the number of car companies cooperating, the smart car products of major car companies need to pay more attention to experience differentiation and safety.

Giants accelerate cross-border

At present, a number of large car companies have officially announced cross-border cooperation with leading enterprises in intelligent driving.

At this year's Beijing Auto Show, the cooperation model between JAC and Huawei has been launched. JAC Motors recently released the Refine RF8 Hongmeng Edition. According to relevant information, this model is the first MPV model in mainland China to be equipped with Huawei's in-vehicle system, which can display navigation, high-end assisted driving and other information in 3D, and update vehicle speed, gear, battery life and other information in real time.

In fact, Huawei, which started as a communications business, has already crossed over into the car circle. In addition to JAC, the reporter learned from an interview at the Beijing Auto Show that the 2024 AVATR 11 benefits from Huawei's HI full-stack intelligent car solution, and the whole system is equipped with the industry's unique triple lidar, 34 intelligent driving sensors, and is equipped with Huawei's high-end intelligent driving system HUAWEI ADS 2.0.

Chen Zhuo, President of AVATAR, said that AVATR has been able to open all over the country, and the more it opens, the better it will be. "The intelligent driving push that does not rely on high-precision maps has been fully opened, and a number of functions have been optimized through OTA, including tidal lanes and bus lanes, and the new lateral obstacle collision avoidance (LOCP) to ensure that there are no 'dead ends' in the full-dimensional omnidirectional safety scene. ”

Huawei, Thalys, BAIC Group, Chery Automobile and other jointly developed "Jie" products have also been launched. The reporter noticed that Hongmeng Zhixing's Wenjie M5, Xiangjie S9 and Zhijie S7 are models jointly built by Huawei and Thalys Automobile, BAIC Group and Chery Automobile.

In fact, Huawei's circle of friends is still expanding. "As a user-oriented technology company, the needs of users are the direction and driving force for VOYAH Automotive Technology to explore and move forward, and we want to bring good technology and technology into the lives of users and create a better car experience for users. Lu Fang, CEO of VOYAH Automotive, said at the VOYAH Spring Technical Communication Conference held recently.

The reporter noted that VOYAH has reached a cooperation with Huawei, and Huawei's newly released Qiankun ADS 3.0 intelligent driving system will also be used in VOYAH automotive products, and will cooperate in the future to launch SUV and MPV models.

Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei's Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU, said at the meeting that Huawei's vision is to bring intelligence to every vehicle and lead the second century of global automotive transformation. "From Qiankun Intelligent Driving to HarmonyOS System, Huawei will help VOYAH accelerate the process of intelligence, and the cooperation between the two parties will be a strong alliance and complementary advantages, and jointly bring users a new era of intelligent electric vehicles." ”

Take advantage of the opportunity to accelerate transformation

Strong R&D capabilities and rich communication technology accumulation are one of the main reasons why traditional car companies value cross-border cooperation.

"More and more car companies are choosing to cooperate with Huawei, mainly because of Huawei's advanced and leading position in information technology and intelligent driving technology. According to Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, Huawei has strong R&D capabilities and rich communication technology accumulation, which is very important for traditional car companies in the process of intelligent transformation.

"By cooperating with Huawei, car companies can accelerate the development of intelligent and connected vehicles and leverage Huawei's technological advantages to enhance the competitiveness of their products. In addition, Huawei's brand influence and technical strength can also help automakers attract more consumers, especially among younger people. The advantages of cooperation lie in resource sharing, technology complementarity and market expansion. Jiang Han told reporters.

Zhang Xiang, director of the Dawofu Digital Vehicle International Cooperation Research Center, also told reporters that at present, the competition in the automotive industry is fierce, Huawei has brand advantages and core technologies, and the cooperation between car companies and Huawei can indeed improve the technical level of their own products.

The reporter noted that at present, Huawei has good technical strength in many aspects of intelligent driving. Taking the HUAWEI ADS 2.0 high-end intelligent driving system as an example, this system already has the ability to drive high-speed and urban areas without relying on high-definition maps.

According to Huawei's official data, as of April 2024, the urban NCA pilot has covered 40,000+ urban and rural areas, with a total mileage of more than 200 million kilometers, an MPI (Miles Per Intervention) of more than 270 kilometers, and a success rate of 99.2% for urban elevated inward and outbound transfers. AT THE SAME TIME, HUAWEI CLOUD COMPUTING POWER REACHES 3.3E FLOPS.

Huawei's smart parking capabilities are also being upgraded. Taking the M5 as an example, remote parking assistance (RPA) and Automated Valet Parking (AVP) have been added on the basis of visible parking, making them smarter and more convenient.

In fact, Huawei's intelligent driving solution is still being iterated. The reporter learned from Hongmeng Zhixing that during the Beijing Auto Show, a number of models, including Wenjie, Xiangjie, and Zhijie, will usher in OTA upgrades. "After this update, all intelligent driving models will further optimize the ADS active safety capability. At the same time, for the M9 and Zhijie S7 models, Xiaoyi's smart assistant will be officially connected to the Pangu model to provide more powerful intelligent interaction capabilities. Hongmeng Zhixing said.

"Huawei Qiankun has started the first year of large-scale commercial use of intelligent driving. Huawei said so on social media Weibo. The reporter noted that Huawei recently held the 2024 Huawei Intelligent Vehicle Solution Conference. At this press conference, Huawei officially announced the Qiankun ADS 3.0 high-end intelligent driving, Qiankun XHUD 2.0 AR navigation and other products.

Jin Yuzhi said at the press conference that Huawei will start from the underlying core technology to lead the intelligent transformation of automobiles, and Qiankun will be the only product in the world with a complete solution of "core, hardware and soft cloud" at the same time, and together with "Hongmeng Cockpit", it will be the two core brands of Huawei's intelligent vehicle solutions.

Accelerate the construction of a smart travel ecosystem

However, in the eyes of industry insiders, with strong technical support and iteration, the user experience and safety performance in driving need to be balanced.

With the gradual increase in the importance of user experience and emotional value, products with similar intelligent driving solutions have begun to emerge, which may be facing product homogenization for car companies. The reporter noticed that at present, including Hongmeng Zhixing's Wenjie M5, Zhijie S7, Xiangjie S9, and JAC Motor's Ruifeng RF8 and AVATR 11, are equipped with Huawei's Hongmeng intelligent cockpit.

This may lead to the emergence of homogenization of the intelligent driving experience. "Partnering with the same driver supplier can really lead to homogenization of products in some ways, as they may adopt similar technical solutions. Jiang Han said that car companies should create differentiated intelligent driving competitiveness in terms of design, user experience, brand characteristics and services. "Differentiate yourself from your competitors through unique software customization, data services, and value-added services. ”

In addition to the intelligent driving experience, the protection of user safety is also extremely important. "Intelligent driving is an important development direction of the automotive industry, and safety has always been the core consideration in the development of intelligent driving technology. While pursuing intelligence, car companies must ensure that safety performance is not neglected. In Jiang Han's view, this requires efforts in technology research and development, testing and verification to ensure the reliability and robustness of the system.

"OEMs should adopt a gradual development strategy to gradually transition to fully autonomous driving, while continuously improving the safety performance of vehicles, such as through redundant systems, fault detection and real-time data analysis to ensure driving safety. Jiang Han further said.

Zhang Xiang also told reporters that the higher the intelligent driving technology, the greater the risk of safety. "Intelligent driving technology is more complex, but the current technology is not mature, and complex technology will have certain defects, which will cause traffic accidents. ”

"Overall, smart technology has the potential to dramatically improve the safety of cars. In Zhang Xiang's view, there is a trial-and-error process in the early stage of intelligent driving technology, and after continuous trial and error, intelligent driving technology will continue to improve and improve. "With the advancement of intelligence, the incidence of traffic accidents will be lower and lower. ”

In this regard, Hongmeng Zhixing said that Hongmeng Zhixing will work with Chinese industrial partners to jointly promote the construction of an open and shared smart travel ecology and create a new era of intelligent electric vehicles. By continuing to deepen the fields of intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving control, and intelligent safety, we will "continuously enrich the matrix of high-end intelligent products, further meet the diverse travel needs of users, and bring users a safer, smarter, and more convenient ultimate travel experience."

(Editor: Quartz Jing Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Yan Jingning)