Two days before the opening of the Beijing auto show, Chinese tech giant Huawei unveiled a new brand of software for intelligent driving. Named Qiankun, it aims to provide autonomous driving systems at the driving chassis, audio and driver's seat level, said Jin Yuzhi, CEO of the Intelligent Automotive Solution business unit at Huawei.
A goal of 500,000 cars equipped with the system by the end of 2024
“2024 will be the first year of mass commercialization of intelligent driving”, Jin Yuzhi added. The Shenzhen firm announces great ambitions: “The cumulative number of cars on the road equipped with Huawei autonomous driving system will exceed 500,000 by the end of the year.”
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The launch of this new brand comes five years after the establishment of the first smart car unit by Huawei. In 2021, the company joined the alliance between battery producer CATL and Changan, the country's oldest car manufacturer, to create Avatr. In November, the firm announced that its smart car unit would be integrated into a new company, which would receive both the unit's core technologies and resources, and investments from partners. At the same time, a joint venture dedicated to intelligent vehicle systems was created with Changan, and is 60% owned by Huawei.
So far, Huawei has unveiled eight electric vehicle models in partnership with Chinese automakers: three of them are from the Aito brand and co-developed by the manufacturer Seres, two by Avatr, a brand supported by Changan, a sixth with Arcfox, owned by Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC), and the high-end sedan Luxeed, with the public manufacturer Chery. The S9 sedan, launched with BAIC under the premium Stelato brand, was finally unveiled on Tuesday.
Huawei relies on joint ventures to overshadow big manufacturers
Early March, Bloomberg reported that Aito, a joint venture of Seres and Huawei, led in electric car sales in China among young manufacturers, with 21,142 cars sold. A figure far removed from the 121,748 sales of leader BYD, which is working with Nvidia and its new autonomous driving system for the next generation of vehicles.
Aito could, on the other hand, overshadow Tesla, currently second in the electric car market in China. Elon Musk's firm achieved more than 60,000 monthly sales from its Shanghai factory, but only 30,000 excluding exports. Especially since the bad signals are accumulating for the American company: after announcing the elimination of 10% of its workforce worldwide, it reported a net profit in the first quarter of 1.13 billion dollars, i.e. 55% less than in the first quarter of 2023.
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