At a high temperature of 34°C in Shanghai, a black car stopped from time to time on the open ground of a remote location in Jinqiao, Pudong. From time to time, three engineers in the car discussed and tested while sitting in a full car. Empty location - only the left front driver's seat.
This is the “Huawei Rover” scenario seen by the “IT Times” reporter at Manka Technology Park in Shanghai. Huawei is the company with the largest number of passengers in the Manka Technology Park and is currently carrying out unmanned autopilot-related real vehicles. According to previous reports, Huawei's two rotating chairmen Xu Zhijun and Guo Ping have tested a modified test car modified from Tesla Model X. According to the “IT Times” reporter found on the spot, Huawei’s test vehicle number At least more than four.
Direct test site
Recently, the reporter came to a temporary parking lot next to the Manka Technology Park. The entire temporary parking lot is nearly 35,000 square meters. There are only 3 cars, 5 garages and 1 small basketball court, and almost white covered with the ground. Marker line. In addition to the black car being tested, the remaining two cars are parked side by side.
It is quite conspicuous that the top of the black car has a projection of a cylindrical metal device with a camera, about 40 cm long, which is fixed by the three brackets next to it. An insider of the communication industry analyzed with the reporter that this may be an image of the car and Communication module, the combination of '5G and car networking, may be one of Huawei's most important technical features.'
In a dedicated garage in the Manka Technology Park, Huawei stopped a total of four modified test vehicles. Two blue car bodies have multiple cameras on the top of the car. Two black cars have multiple passes around the rear of the car and the car. Sensing equipment. Not far from the indoor garage, close to the testing area, is a Huawei 5G operating room, has a lot of communication equipment in the interior, printed on the wall 'HUAWEI 5G' word.
It is also learned that in addition to the Huawei vehicle network division, there are energy-related departments in the Manka Technology Park. High-density batteries with stability have always been the most difficult level to overcome in the manufacture of electric vehicles, and they are also electric new energy vehicles. The core of the company. Previously, Huawei's Central Research Institute Watts Laboratory has announced that its research has achieved a major breakthrough in the field of lithium-ion batteries, Huawei will introduce the industry's first high-temperature long-life graphene-assisted lithium-ion battery.
An employee of the Huawei Energy Department confirmed to the “IT Times” reporter that Huawei is conducting research and development related to autopilot. On the garage wall, there is a prominent banner marked: 'Use me for the first battle, win with me'. From this we can see Huawei's confidence in the smart driving car's first victory.
Has been doing 'players' for many years
If Huawei is still a mystery, then Huawei, as a participant in the Internet car industry, has already had a very deep and wide layout.
As early as 2013, Huawei had already established the 'Internet Connectivity Business Unit' and announced its formal entry into the automotive networking industry. In the same year, Liu Xiaobin, vice president of Huawei's MBB (mobile broadband service) product line, officially entered the car network and attracted a lot of heated discussions. Later, in 2014 it was stated that 'Huawei does not make revolutionaries, but provides revolutionaries with cannonballs.'
In the following years, Huawei and Dongfeng, SAIC, Volkswagen, Citroen, Continental, Audi and other companies all cooperated on the Internet of Vehicles. Although Huawei has clearly stated that the main navigation channel is located in the ICT sector, the message “Huawei Lover” Continuously, Huawei's progress in the area of car networking and driverless driving has also been attracting attention.
In September 2016, 8 members, including Huawei, announced the establishment of the “5G Auto Alliance” (5GAA), which is committed to the development of the IoV ecosystem and promotes the definition of standardized solutions for automated driving based on cellular communications technology (C-V2X). One of the goals is to ensure that the C-V2X technology is tested, validated and commercialized in vehicles in 2020.
In December 2017, Huawei and Continental Group demonstrated the maturity of C-V2X technology in the road test in Shanghai Jiading. Continental Group told the reporter of “IT Times” that in the cooperation between Continental Group and Huawei, Continental Group is mainly responsible for C-V2X technology. The V2X protocol, while Huawei provides support for communication base stations, etc. In the future, Continental will not only cooperate with Huawei in China, but will also cooperate with Baidu, Didi, etc.
At the MWC 2018 World Mobile Conference in February this year, Huawei demonstrated that using the Mate 10 Pro mobile phone to control Porsche driverless, cool remote driving mode has attracted many people's attention.
Whether 'rebuild' is a strategic game core
On June 12, at CEBIT 2018, Huawei released the OceanConnect vehicle networking platform, which is also an intelligent network connection based on ICT infrastructure. Prior to this, a technical person in charge of the V-2X road test with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. was introduced by the Continental Group. The maturity of the human driving industry chain depends not only on multi-modality imaging, high-precision mapping, V2X, ECU, radar, and artificial intelligence, but also the deployment of legal aspects such as driverless licenses and road regulations. This means that if Huawei intends to change from a participant in the Internet auto industry to a real 'car maker', it will face a long industrial chain challenge.
According to domestic media reports, Huawei's vehicle maker only made a mistake and Ren non-nodded, because he once rejected the idea of Huawei trying to enter the automobile manufacturing industry. For a long time, Ren Zhengfei hoped that Huawei could focus its development on the main business. This attitude of Ren Zhengfei is undergoing challenges. Xu Zhijun, who is in charge of the products and strategy, has always been the main promoter of Huawei's vehicle building program. In a large number of public speeches in recent years, Xu Zhijun mentioned almost all the cars and the driverless driver. He even did not hide the conflict with other Huawei executives on this issue, and even included Ren Zhengfei.
According to external analysis, Huawei’s strategy for building a car is ultimately to nod to Ren Zhengfei. Perhaps at the Huawei’s annual strategy meeting held in Ireland in October this year, the “innovative faction” was able to find an opportunity to convince him. It is reported that the core theme of this conference is 'cars'. '.