Huawei and Dongfeng are working together to build smart cars. Will the "Huawei car" be launched soon?

Automotive electronics is an electronic control system composed of sensors, microprocessors MPU, actuators, hundreds of electronic components and their parts. It is a general term for vehicle body automotive electronic control devices and vehicle-mounted automotive electronic control devices, including engine control systems, chassis control systems and body electronic control systems. Its function is to improve the safety, comfort, economy and entertainment of the car.

Automotive electronics is considered a revolution in the development of automotive technology and an important symbol of the level of modern automobiles. With the development of automotive electrification, the proportion of electronic products in the total vehicle cost is increasing and may reach more than half in the future.

Recently, the smart car jointly built by Huawei and Dongfeng Motor has attracted much attention. It is reported that Huawei provides Dongfeng with an intelligent application platform and launches ICT component solutions that are networked, intelligent, shared and electrified.

What is Huawei's intention in doing this?

Huawei's "car manufacturing" is no longer news, but Huawei is not focused on the research and development of vehicle manufacturers, but on automotive electronics. It is reported that Huawei will not follow the trend of cross-border car manufacturing, but will focus on technical directions such as Internet of Vehicles, new energy, and autonomous driving. The reason why Huawei is optimistic about the automotive field is that Huawei's 5G and in-vehicle communication technologies can be well used for automotive communications and automotive entertainment.

With the continuous advancement of automotive intelligence, many vehicle manufacturers have begun to seek partners to promote the development of intelligent connected vehicles. The so-called intelligent connected vehicles include automotive communications, humanized automotive design, in-vehicle entertainment and automotive electronics.

Automotive electronics usher in development opportunities

Currently, many vehicle manufacturers are promoting autonomous driving, which will undoubtedly increase the use of MCUs and sensors. According to relevant statistics, the total global electronics market in 2018 was US$1.62 trillion, of which automotive electronics will account for 9.4%, slightly higher than last year's 9.1%. Automotive electronics has been showing a trend of gradual increase.

Automotive electronic products can generally be divided into two categories, one is automotive electronic control devices, and the other is vehicle-mounted electronic devices. The former are used in conjunction with the mechanical system on the vehicle, namely the so-called "mechanical and electrical integration" semiconductor market application structure automotive electronic devices, including engine control systems, chassis control systems, and body electronic control systems. The latter are electronic devices that can be used independently in the automotive environment, and have no direct relationship with the performance of the vehicle itself, including automotive information systems, navigation systems, car audio and TV entertainment systems, etc.

With the development of automotive electronic technology and the increase of automotive control units, automotive electronic technology is developing towards centralization, intelligence, networking and modularization. Centralization can reduce the number of excessive controllers on the car and concentrate multiple functions into one controller, such as integrating the engine management system and automatic transmission control system into the comprehensive control of the power transmission system, and integrating the anti-lock braking control system, traction control system and drive anti-skid control system for braking control.

Automotive networking is also a trend, which means connecting numerous control modules in the car through bus technology to form a local area network inside the car to achieve information sharing and improve maintainability. The current mainstream vehicle networks include power bus, body bus, multimedia bus and wire control network. With the increase of network modules and related products, the cost of automotive electronics will also increase, and related electronic companies will benefit.

Many countries around the world have issued relevant policies on the trend of electrification. China, in particular, is very determined to promote the development of new energy vehicles. Hainan will soon ban the use of fuel vehicles. Electric vehicles will reduce the use of mechanical components and increase the use of automotive electronics, which will undoubtedly bring huge opportunities.