How is Huawei doing in the field of smart cars and Internet of Vehicles?

The Natural Resources website has published the applications of seven companies, including Huawei, for Class A mapping qualifications. If nothing unexpected happens, Huawei will obtain the qualification within 10 working days. After that, Huawei will become the 20th company in my country that can legally produce autonomous driving maps (high-precision maps).

1. The “Golden Key” in Qualification

It is well known in the industry that high-precision maps are the key solution for autonomous driving and are called the "eyes" of the autonomous driving system. The Class A qualification for the production of electronic navigation maps is also one of the most valuable Class A surveying and mapping qualifications. Only by obtaining it can high-precision maps be processed and produced. However, in my country, it is quite difficult to obtain this qualification.

Data released by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation shows that obtaining the qualification to produce electronic navigation maps requires at least 100 professional surveying and mapping technicians. In addition to personnel, there are also strict requirements in terms of instruments and equipment, confidentiality management, and operating standards. It can be said that this qualification requires not only talents, but also systematic surveying and mapping technology. Therefore, this surveying and mapping qualification is also jokingly called the "golden key" among qualifications by industry insiders.

Since NavInfo obtained the first navigation electronic map qualification issued by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geographic Information in 2001, 18 years have passed. As of now, there are only 19 companies and units in my country that have Class A navigation electronic map qualifications. And there are only five companies that truly have complete maps and capabilities, namely NavInfo, AutoNavi Maps, Baidu Maps, E-Map and Carlead.

Huawei's acquisition of Class A qualification not only demonstrates its company strength, but also once again sets off a map storm. Especially with the advent of the 5G era, the world is about to enter a digital world where everything is connected, and the link between the digital and real worlds happens to be maps; in the future, the development of smart cars, smart transportation, and smart cities will also be inseparable from the assistance of high-precision maps. Therefore, obtaining Class A qualification is a very important part of Huawei's layout in the entire field of autonomous driving.

However, Huawei has also repeatedly stated that "Huawei does not build cars, but will help customers build good cars through ICT technology (information and communication technology)". However, since the establishment of Huawei's Internet of Vehicles Business Department in 2013, rumors and speculations about Huawei's plan to build cars have never stopped, and the industry is also skeptical about Huawei's claims. This is mainly because Huawei has been actively deploying in the automotive field over the years, and the industry chain involved is very long.

2. Construction of Internet of Vehicles Infrastructure

In the field of Internet of Vehicles, Internet giants such as BAT mainly focus on in-vehicle systems. Baidu and Alibaba began to focus on vehicle-road collaboration in 2018. Huawei focuses on the infrastructure of Internet of Vehicles platforms, with OceanConnect IoT platform as the core, focusing on building connectivity and ICT infrastructure, cooperating with automakers and providing them with related services.

At the end of 2017, Huawei announced a long-term cooperation with the French PSA Group, the second largest automaker in Europe, in the field of Internet of Vehicles. The company built a CVMP (Connected Vehicle Modular Platform) based on Huawei's OceanConnect IoT platform to provide consumers with new mobile travel service solutions. During the 2018 Hannover Industrial Fair, PSA's new model DS7 Crossback equipped with Huawei's Internet of Vehicles technology was unveiled at the Huawei booth. This is also the first cooperative model after PSA and Huawei announced their cooperation in the Internet of Vehicles project.

In addition to cooperating with foreign manufacturers, Huawei also announced in 2017 that it would join hands with SAIC to promote the development of 5G Internet of Vehicles technology. In December 2018, Huawei and SAIC signed a strategic cooperation agreement, and the two parties will jointly explore the construction of an intelligent travel ecosystem. This cooperation studies the vehicle information transmission network with CAN (vehicle controller local network) and Ethernet as the main interactive links, and promotes the research and application of intelligent driving technology. At the same time, the two parties will also cooperate in intelligent electric, intelligent manufacturing, information technology, and network security. In addition, Huawei has also reached strategic cooperation with Audi, Volvo, Changan Automobile, Dongfeng Motor, BYD and other automakers, involving many aspects such as intelligent interconnection and 5G.

Especially in 5G technology, which accelerates the development of the Internet of Vehicles, Huawei's technological advantages have been recognized by countries around the world due to sanctions by the United States. Huawei's new 5G multi-mode terminal chip Balong 5000, released at the beginning of the year, is the world's first vehicle-mounted multi-mode chip that supports V2X (information exchange between vehicles and the outside world) and also supports autonomous driving. At the same time, Huawei also released the world's first 5G base station core chip, Huawei Tiangang, which has made breakthrough progress in integration, computing power, spectrum bandwidth, etc. Not only has the base station size been reduced by more than 50%, the weight has been reduced by 23%, and the power consumption has been saved by 21%, but the installation time is also half that of a standard 4G base station.

At the end of May this year, Huawei officially established the Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU and stated: "It will become an incremental ICT component supplier for automobiles." At the same time, Huawei has also been deeply involved in the formulation of rules in the field of autonomous driving. In a recent interview with the media, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said that in addition to being perfectly adapted to the Internet of Things, the "Hongmeng" operating system can also be applied to autonomous driving.

3. The product chain is becoming more and more complete

In the field of autonomous driving, Huawei focuses more on the competitive advantages of computing hardware and 5G, which is different from the research and development of BAT based on software algorithms. Among BAT, Baidu has the earliest and most in-depth layout. At present, Baidu's autonomous driving technology has been well applied in various L4-level models. Compared with Baidu, Alibaba is still conducting research and development of L4-level autonomous driving and has not yet entered the application stage. Tencent has layouts in L3-L5 autonomous driving and takes a gradual approach.

By the end of 2018, all three BAT companies had obtained autonomous driving test licenses. Among them, Baidu has obtained 29 licenses, far more than Alibaba and Tencent's 2, and has a clear lead in the application stage. Huawei's main entry into the field of autonomous driving is at the hardware level, and the hardware product it has released, the Mobile Data Center MDC, can effectively meet the various requirements of L4 autonomous driving.

In addition, Huawei's 5G standard patents, as well as its leading position in chip and base station deployment, will also provide strong basic support for Huawei's future development of autonomous driving for smart cars. It can be said that Huawei's participation in autonomous driving is a natural thing with both hardware and software. Coupled with Class A surveying and mapping qualifications, Huawei has completed a relatively complete smart car product chain from solutions to vehicle terminals, network platforms, chips, and maps.

From the above, we can see that as the most powerful company in China's ICT field, if Huawei can succeed in the field of smart cars and Internet of Vehicles, then the automotive business will hopefully become one of its core businesses in the future.