*Author: The chubby guy with twin-turbo engines
In the past, many brands would choose to hold a brand day or brand night before the auto show, intending to share their new brand strategy, showcase the latest models and technologies with everyone. Of course, this includes a lot of “imagination” about the future development.
On the eve of this year’s Shanghai Auto Show, WM Motor held an event called “IMAGINE DAY – WM Motor Imagination Day”.
The two most attractive points at this event are:
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The newly launched WM W6 model;
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The brand new strategic layout of WM Motor.
About WM W6, I want to say…
Since WM W6 has been officially launched, let me share some basic information about this car with you first:
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WM W6 currently has 5 versions, including two NEDC ranges of 520km and 620km respectively, priced from 169,800 yuan to 259,800 yuan after subsidies;
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The car has a body size of 4,620mm in length, 1,847mm in width, 1,730mm in height, and a wheelbase of 2,715mm. It is positioned as a mid-size pure electric SUV;
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The exterior design adopts a family-style design language, and incorporates the design concept of “aerospace technology”. The body combines with hidden door handles, which can achieve a wind resistance coefficient of 0.3cd.
However, I don’t want to simply share these superficial things with you about this model. In my opinion, the real highlight of WM W6 is its technology, including its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, achieving L4 level autonomous driving under specific scenarios, and the application of SOA technology.
Practical L4 Autonomous Driving
How “crazy” is WM Motor regarding the autonomous driving-related functions equipped on WM W6? Let’s take a look at how WM W6 was presented at this event, and you will understand.
## Introduction
The L4 autonomous driving system, developed in collaboration with Baidu Apollo, is specifically designed for AVP autonomous parking system in certain scenarios of the W6 model by WM Motor.
AVP System
The AVP system includes two aspects:
- HAVP (autonomous learning parking): applicable to fixed parking scenarios, vehicles can autonomously learn to find a parking space and can be parked with just one click on the app.
- PAVP (high precision map parking): applicable to non-fixed parking scenarios, the system relies on high precision maps and cloud computing to automatically plan parking routes and can achieve autonomous parking and retrieval by cruising across different levels.
At the press conference, Shen Hui, the founder, chairman and CEO of WM Motor, said that the company aims to develop advanced autonomous driving technology while also focusing on practical and commonly used autonomous driving assisted functions, including Living Pilot 3.0, an intelligent driving assistance system that provides 20 driving assistance functions, such as ALC, TJP, NLP, FCTA, RCTA, RCTB, DOW, and RPA.
Hardware
The supporting hardware also plays a crucial role in both the AVP and autonomous driving assisted functions. The W6 model is equipped with 5 77GHz millimeter-wave radars, 2 high-definition front cameras, 4 high-definition surround-view cameras, and 12 ultrasonic radars.
L4 mass production is a crucial element in the competition of autonomous driving and it has attracted many automakers and autonomous driving research and development companies. WM Motor, which has jointly developed the AVP system with Baidu Apollo, is ready to embrace the competition for this significant market opportunity.During the auto show, I received an invitation from Baidu Apollo to experience specific L4 autonomous driving features of the WM W6 in person. I will share my experience and thoughts with everyone through video. Remember to stay tuned if you’re interested!
Snapdragon 8155 Chip Empowering Intelligent Cockpit
We are all familiar with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. Since Qualcomm announced the release of the third generation Snapdragon automotive digital cockpit platform in 2019, the WM W6, WEY Mocha, and ZERO Run C11 have all begun using the 8155 chip.
Snapdragon 8155’s CPU uses ARM Cortex A7 with TSMC 7nm process technology, with 8 cores including a 2.4 GHz ultra-large core, a 2.1 GHz large core, and a 1.8 GHz low-power core. Additionally, the Snapdragon 8155 chip also supports 5G baseband.
I have already experienced the WM W6’s intelligent cockpit passively. If you want to know more, you can go and read “How well does the WM W6’s intelligent cockpit perform, which is equipped with autonomous parking?”
SOA Function Realizing User-defined Car
“Software-defined cars” are the expectations of the era of smart cars. However, with the continuous development and evolution of driving scenarios, openness and freedom have become the new direction of software-defined cars. Therefore, the answer given by WM Motors is: users define software, and then software defines cars.
On the WM W6, WM Motors has pre-installed five scene modes: “Take a Rest”, “Parent-Child Space”, “Intelligent Energy Saving”, “Performance Mode”, and “High-speed Worry-free.” In addition, users can also independently set driving scenarios through the APP, including driving assistance, windows, seats, air conditioning, driving mode, music, ambient lights, and other combinations of software and hardware modules.
This operation is very similar to Xiaomi’s “customized scene” for smart homes. We only need to set the trigger conditions, adjust the software and hardware, execute the function, and easily create a personalized driving scenario.
Reorganizing the Sand Table, Deeply Laying Out
At the “IMAGINE DAY- WM Visionary Day,” WM Motors announced the use of a new naming system for its products: W “World Series” and M “Master Series,” along with the release of the WM W6.
The two letters are taken from the English name “WM” of WM Motor. The Weltmeister series represents WM Motor’s SUV products and will focus on two highlights: intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit. The Master series represents WM Motor’s sedan products. WM Motor said that the products in this series will subvert users’ perception of traditional automobiles with forward-looking technology and craftsmanship aesthetics.
WM Motor regards 2021 as a year of comprehensive strategic acceleration. In the second half of the year, WM Motor will begin its sedan strategy. According to the plan, WM Motor’s first pure electric sedan, the first product of the Master series, will be released at the end of the year.
In addition to the naming system and entry into the sedan market, WM Motor stated that it will steadily advance its international strategy and accelerate the development of overseas markets such as Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Finally
At the end, let’s return to the products.
In the domestic pure electric market, the NEDC range of 500-600 kilometers is already a mainstream range. Moreover, WM W6’s intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit have already surpassed most of the competitors in the subdivided market.
With the hot sale of the Tesla Model Y and the domestic Ford Mustang Mach-E entering the Chinese market, it has tightly grasped the pure electric SUV market of 200,000-300,000 yuan that the Model Y cannot “eat”.
Now that the WM W6 is officially launched, it seems that there is another fork in the cake of this subdivided market.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.