Author: Wang Xuan
At the auto show, concept cars are the most common things, but there are many different kinds of concept cars. Most are used to express design trends that will follow, and some are used to give a preview of a specific car model. I originally thought that there would be some differences between the Cadillac LYRIQ concept car and the production version, but I didn’t expect that the current LYRIQ is exactly what “tomorrow will look like.” After its debut at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 19, the production version of the LYRIQ was released by General Motors in the United States on the second day, and it looks almost identical to the concept version.
All greatness starts with a brave start. With the era of intelligent electric vehicles, traditional car companies need to make a new start. They not only need to build pure electric platforms to adapt to the characteristics of electric products, but also need to invest a lot of funds and energy in software. The Cadillac LYRIQ concept car is the tool polished by General Motors and the Cadillac brand for the competition in the electrification era. The Cadillac LYRIQ will be produced by SAIC-GM and launched in the Chinese market. It is expected to start pre-sales this year and be on the market in the first half of next year, injecting fresh blood into the luxury electric SUV market.
The Shape of the Next Generation of Smart Electric Vehicles
Whether consumers can further understand a product depends on whether its design is attractive enough. The shape of the Cadillac LYRIQ concept car is one of its core competencies. “Sculpture-like” is the feeling that Cadillac has been pursuing in its design in recent years, and the flowing, simple and exquisite forward-looking design of the Cadillac LYRIQ concept car also echoes the delicate and streamlined aesthetics.
The front face design breaks the boundaries between the headlights and the grille. The BLACK CRYSTAL black crystal glossy grille and the Cadillac vertical lightning headlights complement each other. Since electric cars require a better aerodynamic coefficient to improve mileage performance, most of the electric cars we see use the “no grille” design. However, this design language has become boring and commonplace today. Therefore, the Cadillac LYRIQ concept car incorporates a large number of lighting elements into the front face design. When the driver approaches the vehicle, the ambient light of the front of the car will start from the center and gradually light up on both sides, enhancing the sense of ceremony and technology.
The layout of the battery pack lowers the center of gravity of the vehicle, ensuring a nearly 50:50 distribution of load between the front and rear axles. Together with the 23-inch aerodynamic wheels with matte finish, the side profile of the vehicle presents a more visually stunning impact. Additionally, the LYRIQ concept car displayed at the auto show features an unusual 14-layer paint process that produces a “Prism” color-effect paint.
Moreover, LYRIQ concept car includes Easter eggs in the details such as the L-shaped taillights inspired by the rocket tail design of the legendary Cadillac Eldorado models, and the small duck pattern at the end of the center console, which is also a classic element of the Cadillac logo.
The interactive upgrade brought by the new generation of intelligent cockpit
The intelligent cockpit has become the standard for evaluating the luxury level of smart cars. The Cadillac LYRIQ concept car is the first to feature the new-generation VCS virtual cockpit system. The new VCS intelligent cockpit system features an industry-first 33-inch curved OLED display and two rear-seat entertainment screens. The 33-inch curved OLED display uses high-density partition backlighting technology and thousands of LED matrix units arranged on the back of the screen. It can provide a dynamic contrast ratio of up to 10,000:1 by precisely controlling the brightness of each unit partition. With a retina display, the pixel density of PPI is up to 271, the highest in the industry, it can display 1 billion colors, providing 9K ultra-high-definition resolution.
In terms of interactive logic, the VCS virtual cockpit system adopts a multi-application, card-style, and freely-combinable interface design, allowing users to freely combine according to their own habits.
Unlike the common dual-screen design, the 33-inch cockpit screen of the Cadillac LYRIQ concept car is integrated into a single unit with no dividers in the middle. Even the newly launched MBUX Hyperscreen from Mercedes-Benz only separates into three screens on a larger-size center console, therefore, the integrated screen of LYRIQ concept car has higher requirements for technology and workmanship.
Except for the 33-inch screen, the LYRIQ concept car also features a Dual-plane AR HUD with dual view laser holographic reality-enhanced flight display. The near screen is responsible for displaying routine information; the far screen, through holographic technology and Laser LED, achieves a wide viewing angle, high brightness, high resolution, and wide color gamut to provide a visual experience. With the help of augmented reality technology merged with external scenes, the AR-HUD can mark scenic spots, provide scenic navigation, forward collision warning, and lane change commands.
In the past, new car companies usually made great efforts in intelligent cockpit innovation, as the rapidly developing internet industry in China supported their innovation. However, don’t forget that the Chinese market is also the foundation of SAIC-GM, and they also have local resource advantages. In the future, the ultimate cockpit experience will make LYRIQ become a benchmark model in the industry.
Hardcore Underlying Architecture and Upper Functionalities
The ability of autonomous driving is an important dimension for assessing a car’s intelligence, but we also need to understand the capacity of underlying electronic architecture above this layer. After all, the underlying architecture determines the upper limit of upper functionality.
In terms of underlying architecture, the Cadillac LYRIQ concept car features the next-generation VIP intelligent electronic architecture. It has super high-speed network data transmission capability, vehicle-level OTA update function, aviation-level network security design, and unlimited sustainable expansion potential to provide powerful support for software-defined cars and vehicle intelligence.
As the neural center of the vehicle, the VIP intelligent electronic architecture adopts the CAN-FD bus with data processing capability of up to 4.5TB/h. It also supports 10Gbps high-speed vehicular Ethernet communication, allowing the vehicle to achieve ultra-high-speed transmission of internal and external data. Its strong communication capabilities have perfectly prepared the vehicle for automatic driving, V2X intelligent transportation, and other technologies. The high-performance processor can support higher-resolution screens and faster human-machine response, greatly enhancing the interactive experience of the vehicle.On top of the underlying architecture, SAIC-GM has taken the lead in deploying the Enhanced Super Cruise advanced intelligent driving system on the LYRIQ concept vehicle. With more sensitive external environmental perception and precise vehicle control, the Enhanced Super Cruise driving system adds more intelligent driving assistance functions such as driver instruction for lane changing, further improving the user experience. Thanks to the powerful vehicle-level OTA upgrade capability of General Motors’ new generation of VIP intelligent electronic architecture, the Super Cruise advanced intelligent driving system can frequently update centimeter-level high-precision map data and continuously expand its usage scenarios.
Currently, the Super Cruise advanced intelligent driving system fully covers more than 300,000 kilometers of intercity expressways, urban expressways, and city elevated roads connected to expressways within China. It is expected that by 2025, the coverage of high-precision maps will expand to 700,000 kilometers, and the coverage scope of high-precision maps will expand to the level of provincial roads in usage scenarios.
Currently, General Motors has allocated a large part of resources to the technology research of assisted driving functions. They have acquired multiple start-up companies in the US to ensure the iterative development of technology. Although each car manufacturer is enthusiastic about assisted driving in their PPT, no one can confirm whether L4 can be implemented and how long it will take to achieve it. For the LYRIQ concept vehicle, which will enter the Chinese market next year, “satellite deployment” is meaningless, so it is better to focus on improving its functionality. At present, the Super Cruise function is jointly developed by the US and China, with the Chinese team being more familiar with China’s road environment and driving scenarios, and having an absolute say in promoting the subdivision function of the Chinese version of Super Cruise. Therefore, under the conditions of both technology and policy, SAIC-GM can still ensure the competitiveness of the Super Cruise function in the Chinese market.
Electrical power
In terms of electrification, we must mention the new Ultium platform introduced by SAIC-GM. It is precisely because of this technology that the production version of the Cadillac LYRIQ can meet Chinese consumers in the shortest time.
The wireless battery management technology, wBMS, loaded on the Ultium platform is a pioneering technology in the industry. Thanks to this technology, battery modules can communicate wirelessly and reduce 90% of internal wiring, which lowers signal attenuation and optimizes battery space and weight, while reducing costs. At the same time, the technology can optimize battery safety performance at the software level and carry out real-time health checks on individual battery cells. Coupled with the new generation VIP intelligent electronic architecture, the Ultium platform will support more refined system management and iterative upgrades.
Without wiring constraints, the Ultium platform achieves greater flexibility in battery pack design. It uses replaceable and upgradable battery modules and flexible cell layout to support software upgrades and optimization of cell configuration, whether it is a lithium iron phosphate, ternary lithium battery, lithium metal battery, or solid-state battery that may be applied in the future. In the future, the high flexibility of the Ultium platform can bring more battery upgrade space to LYRIQ.
The wBMS wireless battery management technology is a unique innovative technology of the Ultium platform. Innovative technologies not only bring the title of “leader” to the automaker, but also attract other automakers to follow a similar technological path, thus creating new industry standards. I believe that one day in the future, the automotive industry will usher in a large-scale reshuffle due to intelligence, and those who master the technological leadership will come out on top.
Defining luxury with intelligence tests the ability of the automaker. So far, no automaker has fully understood the essence of luxury electric vehicles. Mercedes-Benz’s EQS is still trying to bring traditional luxury to the era of intelligent electric cars, while new domestic carmakers are lowering the entry threshold for the luxury car field by abandoning extravagance in appearance and interior design and stacking technology configurations. In the face of “smart luxury,” no one can give an accurate answer, but Cadillac’s LYRIQ concept car is a comprehensive player. With its traditional luxury genes, it can fulfill the expectations of traditional users for electric luxury cars in terms of exterior design. At the same time, SAIC General Motors is also deeply engaged in intelligent cabins and assisted driving, allowing the future Cadillac LYRIQ to stand firm in the “intelligent” Chinese 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.