Author: Michelin
This is the first appearance of the “HUAWEI WENJIE” after renaming from “AITO”. During the three-hour spring new product launch in 2023, Yu Chengdong left the last and most anticipated “far ahead” to the automobile industry.
Although there was no new car model or new cooperation announcement, Huawei announced two upgraded news: the HUAWEI WENJIE all-level models are upgraded to HarmonyOS 3; the high-end intelligent driving version of HUAWEI WENJIE M5 and WENJIE M5 EV will be released in April.
If intelligent driving and intelligent cabin are the two “kings” in the field of intelligent automobiles, then Huawei is the “king” of intelligent automobiles. Even without a new car launched, HUAWEI cars can still make a hit.
Details Determine the Experience: The Upgrade of HarmonyOS 3
This time, HarmonyOS 3 has been upgraded in user interaction, intelligent connectivity, situational intelligence, and security and privacy aspects, and functions such as Super Desktop, PC Collaborative, Smart Car Search, XiaoYi Reminder, XiaoYi Wake-up-free, and HUD Height Adaptive Adjustment have been updated.
At the media communication meeting before this, GeekCar had already experienced the new HarmonyOS 3 in advance. In addition to the usual fluency, the upgrade of details can be simply summarized as:
On the one hand, upgrade the functions of multi-device connectivity and interoperability based on a huge software ecosystem and hardware design foundation;
On the other hand, rely on Huawei’s strong perception ability and underlying algorithms, and integrate sensors to provide services.
In terms of multi-device connectivity, this time it is simply: PC can control the car, the car can control the mobile phone, and combined with the interconnection between the mobile phone and the PC, the perfect loop is closed. Of course, the premise of this closed loop is that the car, mobile phone, and PC are all HarmonyOS. Let’s take a look at the specific functions.
Firstly, the upgrade of Super Desktop. With the powerful ecosystem and cross-device interoperability of the Hongmeng system, mobile phone applications can be seamlessly used on the car screen, making mobile phone APPs available on the car machine.#
In practice, it can be seen that currently supported entertainment apps, such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, BiliBili, and Dianping, can be displayed in the center on the central control screen, continuing the layout of the mobile app interface, while opening the sub-menu or playing content, it can automatically split-screen and fill the entire central control screen. Apps in the Super Desktop can also call the software and hardware in the cockpit. For example, when clicking the shooting key in the Bilibili interface, it can call the external camera to take scenery or use the internal camera to take selfies, or use the buttons on the steering wheel to brush Douyin or Bilibili.
Currently, apps for short and long videos like “iYouteng”, Bilibili, and Douyin are still customized for the mainstream head cockpits, and the advantages of Super Desktop are not obvious. However, for some more niche applications and scenarios, the Super Desktop still fills the gap in the car and lowers the threshold for ecological entry. For example, this office scene below.
HarmonyOS 3 has upgraded the PC dual-screen collaboration function this time. The central control screen can be used as a mirror or extension display of Huawei PC screen. The keyboard and mouse connected to the PC can control the central control screen, and the laptop can also be controlled via the central touch screen. For people who need to work temporarily in the car, the PC dual-screen collaboration can participate in video conferences and modify their own work documents at the same time, which will be more convenient.
In addition, with the increasing number of internal and external sensors and the increase in computational power in the cockpit, it has been a trend for the cockpit to explore the use of sensors to obtain driver and passenger status and provide proactive services.The upgraded HUD in this version comes with adjustable height that automatically adapts to the driver’s eye level without manual adjustment after the driver enters the cockpit and adjusts the seat position, thanks to the camera that identifies the eye level. This feature eliminates the need to manually adjust the HUD height when multiple drivers with varying eye levels use the car.
The cabin sensors are also leveraged for privacy protection. To this end, the WG M5 camera is equipped with a physical switch that can be flipped to protect privacy. The information protection of the vehicle system was also upgraded. HarmonyOS 3 introduced the primary driving privacy mode, which hides personal sensitive information such as call logs and navigation history when multiple people ride in the car.
In addition, to address the pain point of car owners forgetting where they parked, HarmonyOS 3 upgrades the intelligent car locating function by integrating the sensing information from outside of the car cameras. The system can quickly and accurately identify the location and floor where the vehicle is parked using multiple video streams such as fish-eye cameras and transparent floors. After the vehicle is locked, the system sends the location information to the mobile app, making it easy to find the car in the parking lot.
HarmonyOS 3 also upgrades voice interaction capabilities with always-on non-wake-up and multi-intent recognition of up to five commands. With these upgrades, whether the system has the always-on non-wake-up capability and multi-intent recognition ability has become a benchmark for top players in the 2023 voice interaction market.
The WG Finally Has an Intelligent Driving “Muscle”
Do you still remember two years ago when Huawei demonstrated its advanced intelligent driving capabilities by driving a car through the streets of Shanghai before the Shanghai Auto Show? Since then, we have witnessed Huawei’s intelligent driving technology on the Beijing Automotive BJEV Arcfox Alpha S HI and Arcfox 11, with the exception of the WG until now.In the next month, Huawei is going to release high-end intelligent driving versions of HUAWEI Wenzheng M5 and Wenzheng M5 EV, with ADAS2.0 capability. It is highly likely that these versions will be equipped with the previously spotted LIDAR version and will probably have the ability to assist in navigation in urban areas.
To be honest, this timing is not considered late. Although car models equipped with LIDAR have been launched since 2021, it was only at the end of last year that navigation assistance on some sections of urban areas became available. 2023 is just the right time for high-end intelligent driving to “enter the city” with the launch of the Wenzheng M5 high-end navigation assistant version.
Finally
In just one month, we will be able to personally experience the “unprecedented” intelligent driving experience that Yu Chengdong mentioned. Will Huawei’s two trump cards – the intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving – be explosive enough?
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.