Author: Mr. Yu

Hello everyone, welcome to the third episode of the third season of GeekCar’s Intelligent Cockpit Information Bureau. I am Mr. Yu.

In the previous episode, we reviewed the highly anticipated Ideal ONE 2021 cockpit within the community. In addition to the product itself and the presentation of intelligent experience, we also tried to understand and analyze the details and product positioning from multiple perspectives.

From the feedback we received, the current content format has been widely recognized, and we thank you for your attention.

Let’s get down to business.

In this episode of the Intelligent Cockpit Information Bureau, we will still focus on presenting various experiences, details and analysis within the intelligent cockpit. At the end of the review, we will also chat with industry experts about the insights and inspiration the cockpit brings us.

Mr. Yu has always believed that talking with ten thousand people is better than reading ten thousand books. We welcome everyone to come and chat with us.

In the third episode of this season’s Intelligent Cockpit Information Bureau, we have a new friend, the AION Y from GAC Aion.

To be honest, even if it is not a test drive car, this sky blue painted AION Y with an interior color called “fresh macaron” will attract many people’s attention on the side of the road.

As a model with “young, trendy, fun, and technology” as the main keywords, the post-subsidy official guide price of the GAC Aion Y is between 104,600 and 148,600 yuan. According to friends, the price of the AION Y is not expensive, the cruising range is sufficient, and it is equipped with GAC Aion’s bullet battery. However, there are many competitors in this price range.

In its promotion, GAC Aion regards “making young people happy to buy and use” as the main axis, and with the launch of “0 down payment + ultra-low monthly payment” and “0 interest” car financing policies, it must have considerable confidence in understanding the needs of young people.

After several days of testing, the fact proves that this car does have some things.

Interactive Hardware

The AION Y adopts a dual-screen design with independent instrument panel and central control screen.The size of the floating central control screen of AION Y is 14.6 inches, and the size of the LCD meter is 10.25 inches. During the experience, we can clearly perceive the clear and delicate imaging effect of these two screens most of the time, except for the occasional slight glare on the instrument panel in a few lighting environments.

Like the previously introduced Ideal ONE, except for the steering wheel area, it is difficult to see physical buttons inside the car of AION Y, and there is no dedicated car control screen. Where the car control screen should be in most cabins, there is a wireless charging panel with a sufficient area.

There are physical buttons at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions of the steering wheel, which can be easily touched by the thumbs of both hands, and the pressing feel is moderate.

In addition to the ultra-high-definition external shooting camera, there are DMS and OMS cameras on the steering column between the steering wheel and the instrument panel and above the rearview mirror.

Visual Elements

AION Y’s system interface is mainly in cold tones, mainly displaying black and white, and gray is used to represent tags, while bright blue is used to represent status. In most interfaces, the color styles of different levels are relatively consistent.

Fluency

AION Y is equipped with “Journey 2”, one of the representative products of the domestic automotive chip giant Horizon, which is at the level of Chinese automotive regulations. In addition to today’s protagonist, Guangzhou Auto Aion Y, models such as Changan UNI-T, Changan UNI-K, Chery Ant, SAIC自己, and Landtu FREE that emphasize intelligent experience are also equipped with this chip.

In the entire evaluation work, the central control screen of AION Y is relatively smooth under various routine operations; however, occasional unpredictable slight stutters may occur, and the triggering mechanism is unknown.

The main map resource of AION Y is Gaode Map. There are shortcut buttons on the navigation card of the central control screen, which usually correspond to the three most frequently used places: “home”, “company”, and “charging station”, and can be reached with one click.

Like most systems equipped with the car version of Gaode Map, the overall interaction logic of this navigation is not much different from that of the Gaode Map on the mobile phone. Through WeChat mini-programs, it is relatively convenient to share the location of the vehicle.The AION Y high precision map also supports LBS (Location Based Services), providing recommendation for parking, refueling, charging, consumptions, and travels based on the current location.

Furthermore, it boasts good support for team language and real-time sharing of vehicle locations.

AION Y supports synchronization between car-side and mobile-side accounts for high-precision map services. Like most dual-end navigations, syncing between mobile and car-side is possible for various locations, but navigation settings cannot be synchronized.

During road tests, advanced auxiliary navigation capabilities like 3D navigation and panoramic maps will start automatically at suitable times, providing more precise assistance to drivers.

For example, in difficult terrains like the famous Beijing Xizhimen Overpass which is prone to confusing unfamiliar drivers, AION Y can smoothly guide drivers through complex road segments.

On the other hand, AION Y has integrated both China’s Beidou and the US’s GPS positioning systems for more accurate positioning services. When driving through obstructed road segments that affect the location system, AION Y’s inertial navigation features do not show any signs of positioning lag or “teleportation”, delivering a satisfactory performance.

“Y” Means “Young”

Many have already talked about the bold color scheme, spacious interior, symbolized interior design etc., so Mr. Yu will not waste everyone’s time by discussing them.

From a product planning perspective, AION Y’s product team has its own ideas.

In terms of music applications, it includes the popular QQ Music and the commonly seen Kuwo Music in the cabin system.

For voice content, not only does AION Y include the complete Himalayan FM, but the recent OTA also brought in the Lychee podcast, completing the offering in terms of user habits and expertise.

In terms of games, the new OTA also brought in national games like Fruit Ninja, Fishing Master, and Happy Landlord.In terms of long video applications, there are two major platforms that are most popular among binge-watchers: iQiyi and Tencent Video.

It is worth mentioning the car entertainment solution “Huoshanche Yu”, which is owned by ByteDance. This is a car platform that integrates ByteDance’s content ecosystem, including Douyin short videos, Xigua videos, and Toutiao.

Speaking of Douyin, let’s take a look at the official OTA promotion:

“This upgrade includes fully opening up voice-controlled functions such as Douyin videos, front-and-back dual cameras, and recording while driving. Record fresh events inside and outside the car at any time, and enjoy intelligent push templates, one-click editing, high-speed upload, and seamless sharing.”

(After completing the setup) “When encountering scenic spots or memorable moments during the journey, users can directly activate the video recording function through voice commands.”

Based on our understanding of the official descriptions, users can not only watch Douyin on the AION Y’s central control screen, but can also shoot, edit, upload, and share short videos through the in-car and out-car cameras and car-mounted network with voice commands for control.

Whether inside or outside the car, the actions of taking photos and videos can be controlled by voice commands.

Another interesting feature is the “voice cloning” function.

AION Y users can scan the small program entrance inside the car and enter the “Feiyu Zhisheng” platform of iFlytek to create their own or other people’s voices into a car AI voice assistant.

In simple terms, by submitting voice samples through designated entrance, users can upload their own or others’ voices to iFlytek’s voice platform to train AI and generate voice samples that sound similar to well-known public figures such as Guo Degang and Lin Chi-ling, just like celebrity voice packs in map apps for navigation.

Mr.Yu heard that making a voice pack for a celebrity in a map app used to require about 3,000 words as training samples. With the advancement and openness of technology, the latest data shows that only 1,400-1,600 words are needed to train voice packs that can be used for navigation.

Through our experience, it seems that this is about the level of word count required for the AION Y voice cloning function.

The fun thing is, this time the voice is transmitted back to the owner’s seat in the car through familiar sound, becoming an in-car voice assistant.

Meanwhile, AION Y’s cabin system supports custom wake words for voice assistants – it’s up to the owners’ creativity.

Multi-Scene Voice Interaction Performance

Based on a new evaluation system, we tested the wake-up rate and recognition accuracy of the intelligent cabin voice assistant in both static and dynamic scenarios, using three main listening environments: fully closed car windows, high wind noise, and maximum air conditioning wind inside the car.

The results showed that:

• When the vehicle is stationary, the AION Y cabin AI voice assistant has a very high accuracy rate in response to voice wake-up, reaching 100% in the above three listening environments;

• The performance in the high-speed driving scene is also excellent, with only one wake-up failure in the window opening test with the highest road noise and wind noise. Whether the window is closed, high wind noise/road noise, or the maximum air conditioning wind inside the car, the wake-up success rate of the AION Y cabin AI voice assistant is close to full marks;

• When playing music inside the car, as well as in cases of broadcasting, comic dialogues, and other voiced content for command interaction, AION Y’s response accuracy rate can still reach 100%, but there may be a delay of 1-2 seconds;

• In a noisy environment where people are chatting inside the car, AION Y’s response rate to command-type voice interactions can reach 80%, which is relatively excellent.

At the application ecology level, AION Y’s cabin conveys a “no fear of being too much” mentality. In addition to 5G Douyin, voice cloning, FACE ID, and DMS recognition, the most recent update before the evaluation period brought podcast apps like Lizhi Podcast, 21st Century Business Herald, and gaming apps like Fruit Ninja, Fishing Joy, and Happy Landlord into the cabin.

After several days of cabin evaluation work, we believe that the AION Y cabin’s overall performance in application richness, availability, and intelligent experience is outstanding. Especially when we consider AION Y’s high pricing and positioning, all its performance becomes even more outstanding.On the other hand, it seems that the GAC Aion brand has no plan to deepen the IP image of the AION series cabin AI voice assistant. Otherwise, “Hello, baby” wouldn’t even have its own name or nickname, and the fluency of the voice would be very average. It seems that compared to the practices of emerging automakers such as “We Xiaoli” who constantly deepen the presence of intelligent assistants, the AION brand wants to keep their babies at the stage of being a useful “cabin toolman.”

In this article, we will discuss some of the points worth discussing in each review.

The intention of setting up this section is not to point out the products in a commanding way or to deny the team’s work. We hope that these words can stimulate independent thinking.

Interaction level

Strange DMS/OMS identification

According to the promotional materials, combined with the in-cabin camera, AION Y can autonomously identify emotional posture, achieve fatigue monitoring, emotional playlists, automatic volume reduction for passengers making calls, automatic reminders for drivers when driving, and even identify gestures to adjust the temperature.

Unexpectedly, we encountered strange embarrassment during our driving process. Mr. Yu, sitting in the passenger seat, habitually touched his mouth and chin when thinking, which was regarded as smoking by the AION Y system, and the window was automatically opened for forced ventilation.

And these incidents were not occasional but were common throughout our road testing work.

We judge that this is because the system’s threshold for identifying the posture of the occupants in the cabin is problematic. The over-sensitive response mechanism has caused certain troubles for the front-row passengers.

If AION Y’s DMS/OMS function has this effect, what about the girl putting on makeup and lipstick in the front seat? What about the young man who is raising a mouthful of liquid? Will they also be considered smoking and forced ventilation be activated?

We are not using corner cases to argue. Obviously, the current accuracy of camera recognition is not enough, and the services in the AION Y cabin are all strong perceptual forms that require attention. Therefore, it shows that relying solely on visual perception is not enough at this stage. If it can be combined with the AQS air detection system and the video information collected by the camera to make judgments, we believe that this type of function/service can achieve better results.

The official slogan of GAC Aion Y’s website is “Technology First Class Cabin at 100,000 Yuan,” indicating GAC Aion’s great confidence in the intelligent cabin experience of this model in the same class. At the same time, it also demonstrates the AION Y R&D team’s great efforts on the product capabilities of the intelligent cabin.

Overall, AION Y has performed well in our basic features (maps, voice, ecology, etc.) and interaction parts.

Combined with our subjective experience, at the level of “ease of use,” the intelligent cabin of this car is absolutely worth its price. It can be said that in terms of basic functions and interaction, it is not inferior to the mainstream new forces in the automotive industry that tout digital experiences.

But let’s return to reality. AION Y’s cabin is currently limited to “ease of use.” All experiences are limited to common basic functions. Once you slightly “cross the line,” you will not get the response you want:

For example, the entire vehicle ecosystem only includes entertainment and information, with no involvement in consumer services, social media, etc.;

For example, AI chat is basically impossible to achieve;

For example, voice intelligence can call for audio resources, but cannot respond to video resources…

At the same time, like many manufacturers, AION Y is also trying to expand the scope of intelligence, evolving from an intelligent car machine to a truly intelligent cabin. The cabin is equipped with many new intelligent hardware, such as the DMS and OMS systems of the journey 2 chip, intelligent fragrances, and air purification systems that can disinfect and clean the air. However, the experience of this kind of hardware still needs to be improved. For example, the threshold for information recognition of DMS/OMS is very low, often causing misjudgments. Adding AI services based on the recognized information combined with on-board hardware often results in awkward situations.

But this is a good trend. This is also the immersive space experience that our evaluation system advocates. In our opinion, as long as the industry moves in this direction, achieving results is only a matter of time.

Overall, at this price point, to provide such a digital experience, coupled with bold attempts at cabin intelligent hardware, and with a spacious cabin, it truly deserves the name of “Technology First Class Cabin at 100,000 Yuan.”Hope that there will be more smart features that will make people say “WOW” in addition to basic experiences in the future, making it more like a companion rather than just an assistant.

When ending the evaluation work, colleagues from the GeekCar editorial department asked how Mr. Yu felt about the AION Y.

“Do you have any expectations for a thousand-yuan machine?” Mr. Yu asked in return.

In fact, as Yang Biao mentioned earlier, such a price, such intelligent hardware, and such digital experiences are truly amazing. Models like the AION Y which can fold down the front seats, match with a large screen and Tony Bongiovi’s tuning sound system, and turn the cabin into a private cinema aren’t commonplace. Coupled with suitable temperature, air purification, and fragrance, it’s clear that GAC Aion’s product team are devoted to creating an immersive experience.

If you’re unfamiliar with the name above, Tony Bongiovi is the lead singer of the legendary rock band Bon Jovi, as well as a hall-of-fame sound engineer, and the famous DPS audio enhancement technology comes from his hands.

But to the point.

On the one hand, the traditional thinking of the masses is usually that “cheap goods are not good”, while on the other hand, many manufacturers will try their best to avoid emphasizing the cheapness that comes with the price when promoting their products/brands.

Cars are a mass consumer product that is easy to project personal consumption habits and values onto.

Just like how there aren’t many people who read instruction manuals cover to cover before starting something now, the general consumer group’s understanding of intelligence is more focused on the functions and experiences, whereas nobody cares about the black technology behind it that makes them possible.

As information channels become increasingly diverse, younger consumer groups are more knowledgeable and more willing to pay for quality experiences, and facing the high premiums of other brands, they are less likely to blindly follow in their predecessors’ footsteps.

So, the “thousand-yuan machine” here is neither a compliment nor a criticism, but rather an explanation of how much the brand dares to pack into a product.

If the team is able to spend time and resources continuously refining the product experience, the product power and competitive power of the AION Y in the same market segment cannot be underestimated.

Thinking back to a past event during my youth, when Mr. Yu sneered at the game magazine he had bought and sternly asked “What’s the point of looking at these?”, he was right. There isn’t much point in it, but I like it.In traditional views, car models such as GAC AION Y and Great Wall HAVAL Monster, which focus on young users, may seem a bit unconventional compared to the traditional concept of “cars”.

But you know what, young people like them, so who cares.

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.