Research on the Internet of Vehicles of Chinese Brands: High-computing chips promote the integration of AI in Internet of Vehicles

From January to August 2021, the installation rate of Internet of Vehicles information systems in new domestic passenger cars reached 57.1%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points year-on-year, of which the installation rate for domestic brands was 59.6%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points year-on-year.

Monthly trend of vehicle networking information system installation rate of domestic independent/joint venture brands from 2020 to 2021

Source: Zoss Automotive Research "2021 Domestic Independent Brand OEMs' Internet of Vehicles Products Analysis Report"

The steady increase in the penetration rate of connected vehicles of domestic brands is due to the launch of intelligent platforms, the creation of high-end intelligent brands, and the close cooperation of industry chain partners. According to Zoss Automotive Research data, from January to August 2021, the installation rate of connected vehicle information systems of domestic high-end brands such as Geely Lynk & Co, Great Wall WEY, Great Wall Tank, SAIC R Auto, Dongfeng Lantu, and BAIC Arcfox exceeded 98%.

The installation volume and installation rate of Internet of Vehicles information systems of major domestic independent brands from January to August 2021

Source: Zoss Automotive Research "2021 Domestic Independent Brand OEMs' Internet of Vehicles Products Analysis Report"

In 2021, major domestic brands have launched a new generation of Internet of Vehicles information systems, with the following highlights:

High-computing-power master control chips are installed in vehicles, greatly improving human-computer interaction capabilities and ecological service experience

Currently, automotive chips from Qualcomm, MediaTek, Horizon, NXP and other companies are all used in the Internet of Vehicles systems of independent brands. Among them, the Qualcomm Snapdragon SA8155P with super computing power is very popular. So far, it has been used in mass-produced models such as Geely Xingyue L, Lynk & Co 09, Aion LX, Haval H6S, Haval Shenshou, WEY Mocha, WEY Macchiato, Ora Good Cat, as well as Ideal P5, WM W6, and NIO ET7.

The latest car networking information systems and car chips of domestic brands in 2021

Source: Zoss Automotive Research "2021 Domestic Independent Brand OEMs' Internet of Vehicles Products Analysis Report"

Qualcomm Snapdragon SA8155P is Qualcomm's third-generation automotive digital cockpit platform, using a 7nm process and an 8-core processor. Its computing power is 10 times higher than the previous generation 820A, and the CPU and GPU run 8.5 times and 20 times faster than the previous generation, respectively. With the power of the 8155 chip, many models have realized multi-screen display, personalized AI, immersive audio and video, 5G connection and other functions.

Xingyue L: It uses the latest generation of car computer jointly developed by Ecarx and Geely - Geely Galaxy OS system, using Qualcomm 8155 chip, CPU computing power of 105K DMIPS, GPU computing power of 1000 GFLPOS, and NPU reaching 8 TOPS.

Geely Galaxy OS system hardware foundation

Source: Geely Auto

Based on a powerful hardware foundation, the Galaxy OS system has four core functions: human-vehicle interaction, full-vehicle intelligent control, edge AI, and open ecology.

◆ Human-vehicle interaction: Xingyue L adopts a four-screen system of AR-HUD, instrument, central control, and co-pilot screen, which can realize cross-screen interaction and multi-finger operation. The instrument, central control, and co-pilot screen adopt a triple-screen design, all of which are 12.3 inches in size, and can realize 1-finger, 2-finger, and 3-finger sliding interaction. 1 finger can quickly switch between controls; 2 fingers can realize split-screen display of the central control screen; 3 fingers can realize cross-screen interaction.

◆ Edge AI: Powered by Baidu Apollo, it uses information "preloading" technology to achieve local voice interaction, supports full-function voice control of the vehicle body, real-person panoramic pronunciation, full-time wake-up-free voice interaction for the driver, and has self-learning and self-evolution capabilities.

◆Full vehicle intelligent control: supports 1300+ vehicle signal connections and 170+ vehicle control functions; air conditioning, seats and other function control effects are all rendered in 3D.

◆ Open ecosystem: Focusing on the four major applications of "speaking, listening, watching, and playing", we work with partners such as Baidu, Tencent, ByteDance, etc. to build a rich in-vehicle ecosystem, including in-vehicle WeChat, Kuwo Music, Himalaya, iQingting, Douyin, Bilibili, iQiyi, and Kugou.

In addition to the Qualcomm 8155 car chip, Horizon's Journey 2 chip empowers many models of Changan, GAC, Chery, etc., realizing a variety of intelligent functions such as line of sight screen lighting, distraction reminder, fatigue monitoring, gesture recognition, and smart voice photography.

Changan UNI-K is equipped with the latest generation of IMS intelligent interaction system, using the Super Fast chip built on Horizon Journey 2, and it only takes 4.7 seconds to boot up. The system can realize 3+1 quad-screen interaction, equipped with iFlytek Feiyu OS 3.0 voice interaction system, global gesture interaction system, face recognition, fatigue driving reminder and other functions. Among them, the global gesture interaction system is powerful. Through the camera above the rearview mirror, the driver can realize gesture switching, taking pictures, navigating home, navigating to the company and other functions, and supports gesture interaction for rear passengers.

Changan UNI-K global gesture recognition function

Source: Changan Automobile

Alpha S Huawei HI version is the first to adopt Huawei Kirin 990A chip + Hongmeng OS system. The Kirin 990A chip has 3.5TOPs computing power, supports 5G network connection, and can realize multi-screen linkage, face recognition, gesture recognition, four-zone voice recognition, 30 seconds of continuous conversation without wake-up, car-home interconnection, etc.

Alpha S Huawei HI Edition is the first to be equipped with Huawei Kirin 990A chip

Source: Zoss Automotive Research "2021 Domestic Independent Brand OEMs' Internet of Vehicles Products Analysis Report"

VOYAH FREE is the first model of VOYAH, Dongfeng's high-end smart electric brand. It was launched in June 2021. It is based on the NXP i.MX8QM solution, has a built-in new-generation car system developed in cooperation with PATEO's Internet of Vehicles, and is equipped with an integrated liftable triple screen that supports multi-screen interaction and multi-modal interaction (gestures, faces, voice, AR navigation, touch, etc.). Among them, Soulmate, the in-vehicle AI smart assistant created by PATEO, can realize four-zone sound pickup, multi-round voice dialogue, and proactive greetings and care, such as congestion reminders, route recommendations, fatigue reminders, child left behind reminders, and last-mile guidance. At the same time, this is also one of the smart cockpit products for which PATEO provides a complete hardware, software, and cloud solution.

Cooperate with BATH and others to create a full-scenario ecosystem

In the field of in-vehicle ecology, domestic brands have been working closely with BATH (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei), and in 2021, the ByteDance (Tik Tok, Xigua Video, Toutiao, etc.) ecosystem also joined in.

Major domestic brands cooperate with BATH car networking system

Source: Zoss Automotive Research "2021 Domestic Independent Brand OEMs' Internet of Vehicles Products Analysis Report"

Baidu: Carlife and Xiaodu in-car OS have been applied to the latest generation of Internet of Vehicles systems of Haval, Trumpchi, Xingtu, Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng Qichen, BEIJING, Hongqi, Pentium, etc. For example, the Xingtu Lion 4.0 system is equipped with Xiaodu in-car OS and Intel quad-core capabilities, and is connected to Baidu's 300+ service ecosystem, including iQiyi, QQ Music, Himalaya, Xingtu Changba, Qingting FM, in-car KTV, Watch with Your Heart, Baidu Maps, Smart Parking, etc.

In August 2021, the new generation of Lynk & Co 09 intelligent cockpit system was unveiled, jointly created by Baidu and Ecarx, with Ecarx building the underlying hardware and upper-layer services; Baidu provides voice interaction, in-vehicle applications and scenario-based services. The system can realize intelligent linkage between people and the atmosphere lights and fragrance systems according to different car use scenarios. For example, if the driver is detected to be driving fatigue, the Burning Moment fragrance will be automatically turned on to help the owner refresh himself; the atmosphere lights in the car can be adjusted according to different driving modes, etc.

Alibaba: Jointly launched with SAIC the Banma Intelligent Driving System based on self-developed AliOS, which has been iterated 5 times so far. In 2021, new cars launched by MG, Roewe and others will be equipped with the VENUS system (Banma Intelligent Driving 4.0), which can realize the central control A/B interface display, personalized AI image setting and customization, Alibaba's full ecosystem and mini-program access, car-home interconnection and other functions. Among them, NetEase Cloud Music, Bilibili, Banma Interactive Radio, Xuexi Qiangguo, Tmall Genie, car-mounted DingTalk and other ecosystems were newly introduced in 2021.

While promoting the implementation of the AliOS car system, Banma Smart Driving launched the OS trilogy in early 2020, namely, smart car OS, smart cockpit OS, and smart vehicle OS; in October 2021, it jointly released a heterogeneous integrated smart cockpit system with SAIC-Loshen OS, which will soon be launched on MG ONE and Roewe's new RX5 MAX.

With the support of Luoshen OS and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, MG ONE's smart cockpit can achieve cross-screen interaction, start up in 0 seconds, and is equipped with AI semantics driven by Alibaba Damo Engine. It has 7 days of autonomous learning and self-evolution capabilities, as well as a B station e-sports space to meet the needs of young consumers.