Lei Jianping reported on October 25
WM's first full-scene intelligent pure electric car, the WM M7, was officially released on Friday, which means that the two-line layout of WM's "SUV + sedan" has begun, and the "science and technology inclusive" strategy has fallen again.
From the WM EX5 with L2 level intelligent driving assistance, to the WM W6 with L4 level intelligent driving assistance in limited scenarios, and then to the M7 full-scene intelligent pure electric car, the three models epitomize the car-making concept of "science and technology inclusiveness" of WM Motor.
Shen Hui, founder, chairman and CEO of WM, said, "The more technology evolves, the closer it is to the form of life, which is the research and development concept and direction of WM M7. In order to achieve a more life-like intelligent performance, WM M7 is endowed with three major capabilities: super perception, super computing power and super evolutionary power. Therefore, we prefer to call it 'the world's first all-scenario intelligent mobile space'. ”
2021 can be called the first year of mass production of lidar routes
According to the official introduction, in order to create a full-scene intelligent driving ability, the M7 is equipped with 32 top-level intelligent driving perception hardware, which greatly improves the perception ability in complex light, complex road conditions and complex weather conditions. The M7 is also the world's first model to build three autonomous zoom high-precision super-vision solid-state lidars and the first to achieve a lidar level detection range of 330°.
M7 adopts MEMS solid-state lidar technology, which is safer and more reliable, and the energy consumption is greatly reduced, while it can realize the self-adjustment of the refresh frame rate and resolution, and meet the perception needs of different scenarios such as urban areas and high speeds. The M7 is also equipped with seven 8-megapixel high-definition cameras, its longest detection distance is more than 600 meters, close to the 4K level pixel imaging capability, can accurately identify pedestrians, vehicles, traffic signs, and pile barrels and other irregular objects. It blends in with lidar to build the vehicle's surroundings in real time, "seeing" more clearly, safer, and more sharply.
The M7 is the first to carry four Orin-X top-of-the-line autonomous driving chips, with a maximum computing power of up to 1,016TOPS. With the help of WM's intelligent driving algorithm, in terms of daily high-frequency use scenarios, WM's intelligent driving mileage covering the whole country is also constantly improving, which will further broaden the scope of M7's recognition of objects and make the intelligent driving system safer and more reliable.
Entering 2021, more and more smart electric vehicle brands choose lidar solutions, such as Xiaopeng P5, Jihu α, Weilai ET7, WM M7, and 2021 can be called the first year of lidar route mass production.
Compared with Tesla's unswerving visual perception, more and more experts and scholars believe that lidar is essential for achieving high-level automatic driving. Some analysts believe that the safety of the automatic driving system equipped with lidar can reach 99.99%, while the camera, millimeter wave radar and other sensors can only guarantee 99%, although Tesla has always adhered to the pure visual perception route, but lidar is still considered by most OEMs to be necessary for L3 and above.
With the launch of the M7, WM is also full of confidence. WM believes that with 32 sensor configurations including "the industry's most 3 lidar" and "8 million ultra-high-definition cameras", plus the orin chip and the self-developed new domain centralized electronic and electrical architecture, the M7 can take the lead in realizing intelligent driving from the "parking - city - intercity" full-scene intelligent driving, becoming a benchmark in the new car manufacturing force.
Specifically, compared with the lidar scheme with the first generation of mechanical prism or double rotor as the technical core, the solid-state lidar used by WM M7 takes the second-generation MEMS intelligent scanning chip as the technical core, which has the characteristics of autonomous zoom, which can arbitrarily change the horizontal and longitudinal scanning speed according to the different emphasis of different intelligent driving scenes on environmental perception, and achieve dynamic adjustment of frame rate and resolution.
Among them, urban road scenes: the surrounding obstacles are close, the driving response distance is short, and the environment perception frame rate needs to be improved to obtain a longer response time. For example, in the case of queuing up to follow the car in a congested section, the M7's lidar frame rate can be increased from 10Hz to 20Hz instantaneously, detecting changes in advance, quickly completing the follow-up, preventing jamming and avoiding scratching.
Intercity high-speed scene: Obstacles are far away, and vertical resolution needs to be increased to increase the detection distance, resulting in longer response times. In high-speed straight-line sections, the vertical resolution is increased from 0.2° to 0.1°, which means that the detection distance of the perception software for the vehicle is increased from 120-150 meters to 180-200 meters, and the detection distance for static small obstacles is increased from 85 meters to 160 meters.
From the technical iteration of autonomous driving, it can be found that the arms race between new car-making forces is not uncommon. However, a limited arms race is benign, and the arms race is the embodiment of the strength of enterprises, which can promote healthy competition and ultimately benefit end users.
The mainstream market of 150,000-250,000 has become a must for major new car-making forces
Founded in 2015, WM Motors focuses on 150,000-250,000 mainstream market segments, with a team of more than 3,000 people, and has successfully built three main models of EX5, EX6 and W6, basically covering the mainstream SUV market.
Among them, the zero-contact intelligent interactive pure electric SUV WM EX5: give full play to the essence of the "lazy technology Lazy Technology" product philosophy, provide all-scenario intelligent interactive experience inside and outside the car, meet the car needs of the young generation and a young family who pay attention to the quality of life, and rank first in the sales of pure electric models of the new car-making force for 20 consecutive months.
250,000 yuan large six-seat pure electric SUV WM EX6: an all-round model covering travel scenarios such as business, commuting, walking, and outings. With its all-round attributes of IKEA, EX6 creates a mobile living space where smart and comfortable coexist for multi-member families who focus on personal achievement and family life.
The WM W6 smart pure electric SUV is a mass-produced model that can achieve driverless driving, and it is also the first model in China to be based on the cloud and equipped with an "unmanned autonomous parking system". It adopts a new electrical and electronic architecture, equipped with a 7nm process vehicle specification Qualcomm 8155 chip and WM Motor's self-developed autonomous driving domain controller.
WM W6 has five parking features: "360° Panoramic Reversing Image", "APA Automatic Parking Assist", "RPA Remote Control Parking Assist", "HAVP Self-Learning Parking", and "PAVP HIGH-definition Map Parking", to help users solve the "parking difficulty".
According to the data, from January to September this year, WM Automobile sold 29,043 vehicles, more than the total sales volume of last year (22,495 units), and its first pure electric SUV, WM EX5, sold more than 60,000 units. Among them, WM Motor sold 5,005 units in September 2021, up 115.8% year-on-year, and sold 13,378 units in the third quarter of 2021.
M7 is the first intelligent pure electric car of WM's "M Master Series", which embodies the deep accumulation of WM Group in design, research and development, manufacturing, supply chain management and other aspects, and is the pioneering work of WM Car Strategy.
At present, China's new energy vehicle market structure adjustment, the dumbbell structure of high and low at both ends is accelerating to the spindle structure adjustment of the middle high and low ends, and the mainstream market of 15-25 has become a must for major new car-making forces, including Weilai, Xiaopeng and so on are accelerating the layout of this market.
WM has been focusing on the mainstream market of 150,000-250,000 yuan. The just-launched M7 will be delivered in mass production by 2022.
With the release of the M7, the outside world is concerned about whether it will also focus on the price range of 150,000-250,000 yuan like WM's previous products, and this problem needs to be revealed when the M7 is officially launched.
Will receive $500 million in financing IPO or acceleration
WM has received multiple financings since its inception. In March 2019, WM announced the completion of a series C financing of a total of 3 billion yuan, led by Baidu Group, with the participation of Taihang Industry Fund and Linear Capital.
In September 2020, WM Motor announced the completion of a total of 10 billion yuan of Series D financing, jointly led by Shanghai State-owned Investment Platform and SAIC Motor, and Baidu and Haina Asia Venture Capital Fund (SIG) continued to participate in this round of financing. Other investors include Hubei Yangtze River Industry Fund, Suzhou Kunshan Industrial Fund, Hunan Hengyang State-owned Investment Platform, Anhui Hefei Industrial Fund, SDIC Chuangyi Industry Fund, Guangzhou Financial Holding Group and other state-owned industrial investors, as well as powerful investment institutions such as Xinxin, Tsinghua Unigroup, Hongta Group, Agile and Yingke.
In October 2021, WM announced that it expects to receive a D1 round of financing of over US$300 million, led by PCCW Limited ("PCCW") and Shun Tak Group Limited ("Shun Tak Group"), including US dollar investment institutions of GF Shun Tak Investment Management Limited. WM expects to introduce several other internationally renowned investment institutions in the D2 round, with a total financing amount of about US$500 million.
Behind the continuous blessing of many investors, not only the founding team has rich experience in automotive industry trading, but also stems from its own strength. WM has two intelligent manufacturing bases (Industry 4.0 standard): Wenzhou production base and Huanggang production base.
WM Automobile is the first car company among the new car manufacturing forces to realize the digitization of the whole industry chain. C2M is a highly customized, based on big data, intelligent algorithms to build WM intelligent manufacturing middle platform. Using advanced intelligent algorithm model, scientific algorithm analysis of massive user data and parts inventory data, seamless integration of user demand forecasting and manufacturing supply chain status, to achieve second-level scheduling and OTD (order to delivery) status real-time monitoring, early warning and feedback, to achieve from the consumer side to pull the manufacturing process and supply chain.
At present, WM Motors can provide users with thousands of C2M options, which can be delivered in 6-21 days.
According to external analysis, with the arrival of a new round of financing, the IPO process of WM may accelerate, which also means that the future development prospects of WM are also more clear.
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Lei Di was founded by veteran media person Lei Jianping, if reprinted, please indicate the source.