Yu Chengdong introduces Catfish, Huawei’s high-end intelligent driving accelerates

"The product planning definition of Wenjie M5 and M7 was completed by two independent small teams. Although the M5 facelift has been determined to adopt Huawei's ADS 2.0 solution, the M7 facelift may still adopt Yuanrong Qixing's plan."

A person familiar with the matter told AutoHeart.

At Huawei's spring conference on March 23, Yu Chengdong, Huawei's Managing Director, CEO of Consumer BG, and CEO of Smart Car Solutions BU, officially announced that the Wenjie M5 will launch a model equipped with Huawei's high-end smart driving version. Officially launched in April.

The news sparked a lot of discussion on social media. In the eyes of most people, this is inconsistent with previous rumors that the industry will adopt Yuanrong Qixing's intelligent driving solution.

Even Wu Pei, a well-informed and well-known car reviewer, had to correct the information on Weibo.

Car Heart has heard that Wenjie will launch two facelifted models this year - Huawei ADS 2.0 has been confirmed to be installed on the Wenjie M5 facelift, while the Wenjie M7 facelift will most likely adopt Yuanrong Qixing's plan.

01. Huawei ADS 2.0 unveiled

On March 23, Yu Chengdong revealed at the spring press conference that the Wenjie M5 will be equipped with Huawei's high-end intelligent driving.

It is reported that this version of high-end intelligent driving is the ADS 2.0 version, which has the advantage of not relying on high-precision maps and mainly relying on fused perception for environmental recognition.

"The update of the high-precision map is too slow, and the speed of acquiring city by city is also too slow. We even have to work hard for a long time on a small road in Shanghai."

"The roads in the country are changing every day. If we rely on high-precision maps, there is no way to popularize them. In addition, the production cost of high-precision maps is very high, and it is very difficult to collect nationwide data."

When it comes to the reasons for light maps, Yu Chengdong seems to have endless complaints. The high-end intelligent driving ADS 2.0 version developed using the idea of ​​​​"emphasis on perception and light maps" has largely avoided the influence of high-precision maps.

According to Automobile Heart, there are two advantages to adopting the technical approach of “relevant on perception and light on map”:

First, it can avoid the policy limitations of advanced maps that require review, and achieve efficient implementation in more cities more quickly;

The second is to eliminate the high collection and maintenance costs caused by high-precision maps, thereby reducing the cost of intelligent driving systems.

This is also the main reason why many smart driving companies currently committed to promoting the development of the industry are vying to choose the "emphasis on perception and light map" solution.

However, without the support of high-precision maps, intelligent driving systems can only rely on stronger perception capabilities and algorithms to cope with complex environments.

"Huawei's high-end smart driving will be installed on the Wenjie M5 in April." In terms of time progress, Huawei ADS has made considerable progress.

It is worth mentioning that on March 24, at the Avita 11 single-motor version launch event, Tan Benhong, chairman and CEO of Avita Technology, also officially stated that Avita will be the first batch of full-series iterations of Huawei's high-end products. A brand with intelligent driving system ADS 2.0, its first model Avita 11 will also be equipped with this system as standard.

Judging from the fact that Wenjie and Avita are vying to be equipped with ADS 2.0, Huawei is ready to introduce this more practical intelligent driving system to the consumer market.

02. Yu Chengdong uses Yuan Rong Qixing to force Che BU?

As we all know, Huawei has three major development models in the automotive field: parts mode, HI mode and Huawei smart car selection. The parts and HI mode are led by Xu Zhijun, Huawei’s rotating chairman, and Huawei smart car selection is led by Yu Chengdong. (For more information, read previous articles: The two faces of Huawei cars)

The parts and HI models focus more on technology accumulation, while Huawei's smart car selection is more inclined to sales layout. The different development logics of Xu Zhijun and Yu Chengdong are also the root cause of car-making differences within Huawei.

Although their logics are different, in essence, both of them want Huawei to make greater progress in the automotive business. However, Xu Zhijun, who focuses on technology accumulation, is aiming for long-term development, while Yu Chengdong, who started from the consumer business, is also more focused. We have solved Huawei's current predicament and done our best to drive away Huawei's "cold air".

The development results of the two routes are obvious to all:

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• Wenjie, which broke through with Huawei's smart car selection model, has achieved rapid development in 2022, and some media have called it the dark horse of the year in the industry;

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• The HI model, which requires time for technical precipitation, has not developed smoothly. Jihu, whose listing has been delayed again and again, is an example.

Compared with Jihu, which frequently bounced tickets, Avita was lucky to be at the time when Huawei's ADS technology broke out.

On March 9, ahead of the launch of the more popular single-motor version of Avita 11, Avita 11's urban NCA function was officially launched in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and will soon be launched in Guangzhou and Chongqing.

If we zoom in to the entire intelligent driving industry, the development trend of “emphasis on perception and light on maps” has already swept the entire industry:

From the three leading new forces of Ideal, Xpeng and NIO, which advocate full-stack self-research, to a series of autonomous driving companies such as Hao Mo Zhixing, Momenta, Pony.ai, WeRide, Qingzhou Zhihang, Zhixingzhi, Yuanrong Qixing, etc. companies have proposed technical solutions to achieve urban NOA without relying on high-precision maps.

Judging from this development trend, Huawei's technology to achieve urban NOA by relying on high-precision maps is not leading, and the upcoming high-end intelligent driving system ADS 2.0 is the key to Huawei's "way ahead" in the field of intelligent driving.

According to insiders, the Wenjie M5 facelift originally worked with Yuan Rong Qixing for several months on the development of smart driving, but it was suddenly stopped because Huawei internally decided to directly develop a self-developed plan.

"I think Huawei treats Yuan Rong like a catfish, but in fact the model launch team still tries to protect Yuan Rong's plan." A person familiar with the matter added.

Judging from the results, the introduction of Yuan Rong Qixing's approach has pushed Huawei's intelligent driving solutions to a certain extent and accelerated the development and mass production of Huawei's ADS intelligent driving.

If the Wenjie M5 facelift is successfully equipped with Huawei's ADS 2.0 system, then Wenjie will have achieved a leap from Huawei Smart Selection mode to Huawei HI mode, and Wenjie will also become one of the car brands with the closest relationship with Huawei in the automotive field. one.

03. Huawei puts Yuanrong Qixing in the spotlight

On March 22, Yuanrong Qixing launched the DeepRoute-Driver 3.0 intelligent driving solution that does not rely on high-precision maps before Huawei’s spring conference.

Yuanrong Qixing said: Based on the technical framework of Driver 3.0, Yuanrong Qixing has simultaneously launched two smart driving products, D-PRO and D-AIR. The smart driving cars built in cooperation with car companies will be put into the consumer market in 2023.

According to Yuanrong Qixing, Driver 3.0 has many advantages:

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• It can perceive fine road information covered by high-precision maps, such as lane lines, traffic lights, road signs, warning signs, etc.

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• It can locate the vehicle's position in real time and accurately determine the lane the vehicle is in and the distance from the lane next to it.

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• With the blessing of Driver 3.0, replacing the car with a more cost-effective navigation map can bring consumers a safe, reliable, free and coherent intelligent driving experience.

It is worth mentioning that the cost of this excellent smart driving system is US$2,000, which is lower than the industry average.

Not relying on high-precision maps and entering the consumer market within the year, such clear information has led many people to bind Yuanrong and Wenjie together. This has also appeared. Before the Huawei press conference, a large number of media predicted the Wenjie M5 facelift. Yuanrong Qixing's intelligent driving solution will be adopted.

However, this prediction was overturned when Yu Chengdong announced that the Wenjie M5 will adopt Huawei's ADS 2.0 intelligent driving solution.

But this does not mean that Yuan Rong Qixing has no chance.

According to an insider, "Compared with Huawei's ADS solution, Yuanrong Qixing has a cost advantage."

A piece of background information is that the overall sales of the Wenjie in 2022 were 78,081 units, of which the sales of the Wenjie M7 were 21,226 units, the sales of the M5 were 56,855 units, and the M7 sales accounted for less than one-third.

"In order to stabilize sales, the M7 facelift will most likely adopt Yuan Rong's plan," a person familiar with the matter added.

With obvious cost advantages and impressive technical strength, Yuanrong Qixing's advantages have been demonstrated.

From Yuanrong Qixing's perspective, successfully getting into the car industry can quickly establish one's name and push the company to enter a new stage of development.