Author: Gao Shangpei

Since the birth of the new power brand, new energy vehicle manufacturers have carved out a unique niche and consolidated their market position. As time goes by, new models from the new energy brands are emerging like mushrooms after a rain. However, with this growth also comes new problems that are continuously emerging and expanding, such as incomplete product functions and system loopholes, leading to mass-produced and delivered vehicles that are like “half-baked goods”.

As the saying goes, “haste makes waste”. Blindly pursuing success not only leads to poor results, but also, as cars are commodities primarily for use, the core victims of delivering immature new vehicles to customers are the customers themselves. At best, this might lead to a poor user experience, but at worst, there could be serious product defects that could pose a safety hazard. Therefore, any new vehicle that needs to be improved should not be delivered to customers.

Of course, not all new energy brands lack a sense of responsibility, and JIMU is one of the “minority”. As a responsible automaker, JIMU did not blindly pursue delivering the all-new HI version of the Alfa S to consumers. With the premise that there was room for improvement and optimization, JIMU chose to deliver a small-scale internal release first. In December of last year, the users who received the delivery were the Davidson Innovation Lab partners, the project team that participated in the development of the vehicle in cooperation with JIMU and Huawei. From this, it can be seen that JIMU hopes to optimize the vehicles to the best state before delivering them to customers on a large scale, to ensure user safety and a high-quality experience.

Speaking of the Alfa S by JIMU, most people are familiar with it. It was officially launched and used in April of last year, and the all-new HI version of the Alfa S, jointly developed with Huawei, was also revealed during the same period. Compared to the standard model, the biggest difference with the all-new HI version of the Alfa S lies in its adoption of the ADS intelligent driving solution and the Hongmeng OS car system. These two systems are mounted on a mass-produced car for the first time, making it the first model to utilize the HI Huawei Intelligent Vehicle full-stack solution. With Huawei providing technical support, the system and software stability of the all-new HI version of the Alfa S by JIMU have been guaranteed, and more importantly, the smart driving capabilities have achieved a qualitative leap.The implementation of the ADS intelligent driving solution relies on the hardware support of lidar, high-performance chips, high-precision maps, and high-speed network transmission. This series of high-end hardware is perfectly matched with the forward-looking E/E electronic architecture created by FAW-Volkswagen. The all-new HI version of the Alpha S by FAW-Volkswagen is equipped with three solid-state lidars, located respectively on both sides and in the middle below the front of the car, plus six millimeter-wave radars and eleven high-definition cameras installed almost all over the car, giving the Alpha S hi version a 360-degree monitoring capability to meet the data collection needs of advanced intelligent driving.

With the support of high-spec hardware and high-precision maps accurate to centimeter-level, the Alpha S HI version can achieve intelligent driving from point to point with almost no human intervention. For instance, after setting the starting point and destination on the car navigation system, it can automatically enter the intelligent driving mode, performing lane change and overtaking, stopping/waiting for the traffic lights, yielding to merging traffic, and so on, based on real-time traffic conditions, at a speed of data processing much faster than the Tesla Model 3 with the help of its MDC810 supercomputing platform rated at 400 TOPS. The joining of 5G network can also enhance the data transmission between the vehicle and the server, which is also indispensable support for advanced autonomous driving.

In addition, the Hongmeng OS, independently developed by Huawei, is used for the first time in the vehicle cabin. Compared with common in-car intelligent systems, the Hongmeng smart cabin implements “speak and operate”, and the functions and settings displayed on the car machine can be operated by voice command, bringing out a smarter multi-faceted cooperation as an ecosystem. Smart home appliances can also be operated through the Hongmeng smart cabin. This is the true significance of the Huawei intelligent cabin.

As an electric vehicle, both the performance and charging time of the Alpha S HI Edition from Jinkoo cannot be ignored. The new HI version of the Alpha S from Jinkoo has a first-class acceleration level, with 3.5 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h. As for the charging time, the Alpha S HI Edition uses a 750V high-voltage electric drive platform, making it the first mass-produced vehicle in China to use this technology. With a customized 2.2C high-rate charging battery cell, it can truly achieve 180kW ultra-fast charging, charging 197km in 10 minutes, improving the charging speed and shortening the charging time, thus reducing the anxiety about the driving range.

In addition to support from top global brands such as Huawei, Jinkoo’s other partners are also heavyweight. For example, as Jinkoo’s joint venture shareholder, Magna has previously manufactured well-known models such as the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, BMW 5 Series, Jaguar E-PACE and I-PACE, and now provides strong technical support for the chassis tuning of the Alpha S, ensuring the comfort and handling experience of the entire vehicle.

Finally

It is evident that while pursuing intelligence, Jinkoo still places safety as the top priority. By choosing Huawei as its strategic partner, the Alpha S HI Edition has become a more mature and stable high-level intelligent driving assistance system.

Although it is not the oldest newcomer in the market for pure electric vehicles, the Alpha S HI Edition is still remarkable. With its first-class intelligent driving capabilities, it embodies the concept of “outstanding from the outset.” A safe, intelligent, unique driving experience is exactly what a smart electric vehicle should be.

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.