INTELLIGENT autonomous driving in urban conditions is the promise of the Acrfox Alpha-S HI. The last two letters in the car’s name mean Huawei Inside (HI) since the car is guided and controlled exclusively by Huawei’s integrated intelligent automotive software and. hardware solutions.
The new vehicle was launched at the recent Shanghai Autoshow.
The Acrfox Alpha -S HI will be the first mass-produced self-driving vehicle for urban roads and is being billed as a new global benchmark for autonomous driving. It is built by the Beijing Automotive Industrial Corp. (BAIC). The BAIC Group’s comprehensive experience in vehicle manufacturing provides the edge for this vehicle in terms of mass production and parts sourcing.
With the hardware ready-built the new car is expected to hit the markets by the end of 2021.
Huawei designed and installed a brand-new digital architecture for intelligent vehicles, with more than 30 intelligent components, and five intelligent systems — Intelligent Driving, Intelligent Cockpit, mPower, Intelligent Connectivity, and Intelligent Vehicle Cloud–and is the first premium intelligent electric vehicle co-branded with Huawei Inside.
Through partnerships with Arcfox, Huawei has promised to use its 30-plus years of experience in ICT to help OEMs build better intelligent cars and drive China’s automotive industry to evolve in new cutting-edge areas such as intelligent and autonomous driving.
With Huawei’s full-stack automated driving system (ADS) the car will be able to navigate itself through busy urban terrain, high-speed roads, and parking lots.
Urbanized software
It will be able to recognize and analyze a full array of road features from traffic lights to oncoming traffic. From there, the vehicle can operate without instruction to any situation from going straight, turning, and stopping for pedestrians or other objects, to navigating on- and off-ramps and unprotected turns.
For example, at intersections without left-turn waiting areas, it is able to adjust its route to turn left safely based on analysis of oncoming traffic and other vehicles turning left. In addition, the ADS comes equipped with self-learning technologies to constantly self-evolve, increasing its intelligence based on actual experience to become the ideal driver.
This full-stack ADS was specifically adapted to China’s complex roads and transportation systems to provide users with a better driving experience across all scenarios.
Huawei has been researching artificial intelligence applications for nearly ten years, with their current autonomous driving algorithms entering development five years ago. This decade of research has produced a trifecta of technologies perfect for an ADS — super full-stack algorithms, a super data lake, and supercomputing and sensing devices.
The ADS will also support continuous optimization and iteration through over-the-air (OTA) updates to provide users with new and exciting features and to keep up with quickly evolving urban use cases.
At the Auto Shanghai 2021, the Arcfox Alpha-S HI was made available for attendees to experience autonomous driving in dense urban areas.
Huawei Inside: New experiences with software-defined cars
The Arcfox Alpha-S HI is equipped with HarmonyOS and a large HD display for premium interconnection between what Huawei calls “1 + 8 + N” scenarios. By bringing together smart cockpit units with users’ other devices, these technologies allow services like navigation, video, music, and voice to be seamlessly switched between the car and other devices, making driving easier and more enjoyable. These latest technological advances turn the car into your phone, enabling seamlessly connected video calls and more while driving.
It also comes equipped with new power technologies that are going to change the game for new energy vehicles. The exclusive AI-powered, high-voltage flash charging power domain solution Huawei has created by leveraging their 30-plus years of experience in power electronics means that cars no longer need to be left charging for hours at a time. In just 10 minutes, the electric car can take on enough charge to power 197 km of driving. The dual-motor, intelligent four-wheel drive also lets drivers go from 0 to 100 km/h in just three seconds.
The HI intelligent automobile solution is comprised of powerful computing resources and operating systems to form three computing platforms – intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent vehicle control – and three operating systems – AOS (intelligent driving), HOS-A (intelligent cockpit), and VOS (intelligent vehicle control).
Together, these elements create a software-defined vehicle, which means that new functions can be continuously developed. This ability to constantly iterate for better user experiences redefines how we view cars.
The commercial debut of the Arcfox Alpha-S HI is just the start for Huawei as its presence expands into the automobile industry. Huawei has committed to providing solutions for automakers that will help them build future-oriented, intelligent vehicles.
The company has already announced it will also be helping GAC Group and Chang’an Automobile build high-end intelligent vehicle sub-brands. These vehicles are slotted to hit the market in Q4.
Any new vehicle affixed with the HI logo will come equipped with Huawei’s highest-level ADS and all intelligent automobile solutions, delivering an intelligent, enjoyable, and reliable experience.
The auto industry is poised for a transformation the likes of which it hasn’t seen in almost a century. As a global leader in technology, Huawei is perfectly placed to provide the ICT technologies needed for future autonomous driving and electric vehicles.
Huawei’s R&D investment into intelligent automotive components is forecasted to exceed US$1 billion in 2021. The company has stated it will ramp up investment in components for intelligent vehicles, especially autonomous driving software, to help automakers make vehicles that are more connected, intelligent, electric, and shared. Future integration of the automotive and ICT industries will create many new strategic opportunities both for Huawei and other industry players for years to come.
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