Author: Su Qin

The ideal still centers around “family” and starts with “Dad” as the entry point, but this time raises the banner of “family game space,” launching the L9 version of Ideal ONE 2.0, hoping to achieve a 20% market share in the family user market, although it is only 2% at present.

Imagine a family scene where the blue sky and white clouds outside, warm sunshine shines on the faces of adults and children through the window, several children sit on spacious and comfortable seats in the back row, connected to Switch with a data cable, and the whole family plays a game together through the top entertainment screen. How can such a happy family scene not touch people’s hearts.

Although the actual customers of Ideal L9 are “Dads,” it is full of children’s appetite.

In the era of “experience first,” the new forces represented by NIO Xiaoli have made great efforts on smart interaction and driving assistance and other intelligent systems, striving to create an immersive driving space and bring users a unique driving experience.

For example, the soon-to-be-launched Ideal L9 adopts a five-screen interactive mode, including the vehicle’s central control screen, the co-pilot entertainment screen, and three 15.7-inch OLED entertainment screens in the rear cabin. With one line connection, a family of four can enjoy the 3A masterpiece of Switch together. Move your fingers, open your mouth, and control an SUV with one hand, bringing the entertainment function of home into the car.

Now, whether it is a traditional car company or a new force, although they are advocating the new four modernizations represented by intelligence and networking, it does not mean that the relevant technology can blindly expand itself. Even if it brings users the most intuitive driving experience and the coolest sensory experience, it cannot be a mess in actual application. New energy vehicles can only play beautiful flower racks, and I believe that neither car companies nor users want to see this.

Therefore, in the era of the Internet of Everything and behind the continuously improving high-tech, care for human nature will never be absent.

Blind spots in the Internet of Everything

Since we want intelligence and networking, we cannot do without the network.

The network can be said to be the soul of new energy vehicles. Functions that can bring users a driving experience, such as watching TV, listening to music, playing games, smart interaction, and car navigation, all rely on the network. But the fatal flaw is, what if there is no network? If there is a blind spot, interconnection will be blocked!

Currently, XPeng and NIO use China Mobile’s network, and Ideal uses China Unicom’s network. Without exception, they have all experienced black screens caused by network disconnection and brought users a lot of trouble.

Although China has built the world’s largest 5G technology network with a total of 819,000 base stations and 280 million end users, most new energy vehicles currently use 4G signals.Taking the current ideal ONE as an example, Ideal gives each car owner 20GB of 4G data. Although 4G base stations are more numerous and have a wider range and stronger signal than 5G ones, the unavoidable disadvantage is — slow! The constantly rotating circle is always the best tool to agitate every user’s impatience.

To fundamentally solve the problem of “circle” and truly achieve the interconnection of all things, 5G is still needed.

5G technology has millisecond-level latency, which means that the judgment of the external environment and the application of the internal software in the car will be smooth and seamless; it means that when driving on the road, the car can perceive external information more accurately and make more reasonable reactions to ensure user safety; it means that users are in control at home and in the car, as if they were right next to them.

By then, the current problems such as stuttering, disconnection, and crashes will be greatly improved.

But the ideal is still full, and the reality is still thin.

Not to mention the future of 5G, just for now, when a car is driving in a tunnel, wilderness, countryside and other places with weak signals, many features are quite tricky to use.

Taking Ideal as an example again, Ideal’s slogan is “Creating a Mobile Home.” When a family goes on a spring outing, it is necessary to go to wild places such as mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas. These places happen to be areas with weak signals. When in those places or on the way to those places, how to make those cool features work smoothly under weak signals to meet the needs of users, should be a major problem that Ideal needs to solve in order to “create a mobile home.”

No matter how powerful the functionality is, in the end, users need to use it without any problems.

How to Fill in the Blind Spots

At present, the development of 5G is in full swing, and its application in new energy vehicles is also accelerating.

Currently, German BMW iX, Mercedes-Benz EQS, domestic GAC Aion V, and other companies have begun to use 5G technology to ensure smooth communication in more diverse situations.

It is believed that as a backbone force of domestic new energy, WmAuto will support the arrival of 5G-connected cars soon.

However, as mentioned above, no matter how fast 5G is, there will always be dead spots in the network. Now it is the transitional period from 4G to 5G, and how to ensure stable signal and ultimate user convenience is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.

If relying solely on the construction of base stations, building a complete base station in China’s vast land will be a quite long cycle and will incur huge costs. Due to environmental and other factors, it is also impossible to build a complete base station, so the network cannot cover every corner.To solve this problem, new energy vehicle companies need to turn to themselves for help.

Firstly, they can develop more powerful signal boosters or other functions. Although automotive signal boosters are already on the market, the quality is uneven, and the actual effect is not ideal. Therefore, as a new energy vehicle company, developing its own brand of signal boosters or other alternatives can help solve the problem of weak signals. This will allow users to enjoy their smart car systems anytime, anywhere, which will also leave a deeper impression in their minds about the brand.

Secondly, strengthen the car’s offline capabilities. If the car’s offline capabilities are more powerful, it will perfectly avoid the problem of weak network signals. For example, for games, the car can be equipped with higher entertainment value offline games or connected to an external device through a data cable, like the Ideall L9.

In any case, signal dead spots must be filled. Otherwise, if new energy vehicles only serve as shells for sheltering wind and rain in areas with weak signals, what’s the point of being a “moveable home”? It’s a pity that cool features have become decorations. If everything is connected, it should also be discussed based on the scene, otherwise, it becomes an empty slogan!

Networking is for connectivity, and communication is for humanity

No matter how powerful the intelligent interaction system, driving assistance system and other functions of new energy vehicles are, it should not be ignored that they are essentially cars, not just mobile phones.

A real car must have sufficient power, a well-tuned chassis and a NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) design that makes the car as quiet as possible. Although these are not visible elements that can bring more intuitive feelings to users, it can be said to be an obstacle to “all things connected”.

Using the Ideall L9 as an example, if it wants to create a “family game space”, what are the requirements? High network speed, comfortable seats, and a quiet space. These points are reflected in the car. First, the network signal should be stable and good; second, the seats should be comfortable and the car cabin stable, which keeps it balanced when passing bumpy roads; third, the NVH design should be in place, solving the resonance noise of car parts and preventing external noise from entering the car.

Imagine that a father is driving in the front while his child is playing games in the back seat. If the power is not sufficient, the chassis is too soft or too hard, and the child will sway in the car when passing through bumpy roads, which will affect the overall gaming experience of the whole family.

Similarly, watching movies, listening to music, or talking to the car system is the same.Therefore, the carrier of all intelligent systems is not only the invisible network but also the visible chassis and audible power. Only by doing the most basic things well can intelligent systems be effectively applied, have more room for play, and make the mobile home feel more like a home.

Although the concept of everything connected is full of technology, it has indeed brought users a super sensory experience while also greatly facilitating the use of cars. However, we cannot blindly worship and overemphasize it. It is actually only used to add to the beauty of a car.

We drive to get from point A to point B, and the intelligent system solves the problems on the way from A to B. Travel is essentially about moving from point A to point B!

We believe that the popularization of 5G in the future will take everything connected to a new level, and push users’ on-road experience to a temporary peak. There will also be 6G, 7G… in the future, and everyone in the car will be their “center of the universe”, with what they want to see and enjoy within reach. Perhaps in the future, cars will no longer be the carrier of people’s travels.

But for now, the driving experience of a car is a comprehensive feeling that does not allow for any shortcomings in every aspect from hardware to software. Therefore, although it connects the network, everything connected must also be connected with humanity.

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.