For Mr. Li, the Robo-01 lunar exploration limited edition by Jidu Technology has a bit of the emperor’s new clothes vibe.
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Appearance: From various static videos, except for the design of the rear spoiler, the wide and flat body shape fits this price range, the front and rear look too much like mass-produced models. This design will probably become outdated by the time it is delivered in two years.
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Interior: The sausage screen is a typical gimmick, fancy but impractical. The car models that used this design have either made changes, closed down, or opted for a less foolish rising and lowering screen. However, it may become the only one remaining with such a foolish design. Also, the sausage screen is in front of the steering wheel, and there is only one screen on the right side, while the left side is empty, and the direct view is at a corner of the screen…
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Yoke steering wheel: Tesla has left this behind, and it is either a selling point or a help to ordinary users’ driving experience. It is probably just a gimmick, and by the time the vehicle is delivered, they will possibly cite regulations prohibiting it and replace it with a rounded rectangle with a quarter-circle radius.
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Price: The high price may have been intended to stir controversy. The result is that almost nobody is disputing it, and everyone sees through it.
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Computing power: It was touted as top-notch computing power, but in reality, even now, its computing power is only half of what is recorded for mass production computing power! By the time it is delivered in two years, it may just be the passing grade. The obvious new clothes, does this not show that Mr. Li cannot really control Jidu?
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8295: The chip is also a point that major manufacturers are focusing on, and if they do not change the chip in two years, it might be outdated by the time of delivery.
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Claimed differentiation in the intelligent cockpit and L4. However, all reviews to date have not even tested the sausage screen, and the CEO’s imitation video of the XPeng road test is filled with flaws… So, I would like to know what the Baidu employees who have pre-booked are really interested in?8. The basic driving hardware is the same as the one on Model 001. It might be well-tuned, but that’s not an excuse to abandon the tuning of the driving system just because it’s an electric car. After all, the first priority for a product like this is to drive comfortably or have unique features, rather than just having an electric motor and four wheels.
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When searching for an official website account to make a reservation, neither WeChat nor Weibo had prominent links to the car models and reservation page.
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The release of this car from Xirui could be considered a joke in the industry.
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What is the core competitiveness of this car? Apollo, the theoretically impressive automatic driving system, is not yet widely available in real-world vehicles. The car is made by Geely, but there’s no service system to speak of. The way it’s marketed to customers is like selling to beginners rather than to experts. On the inside, there’s no particularly impressive space inside the car. The target customer base is unclear, or perhaps it’s trying to compete with Tesla’s customer base, which seems like too much of a challenge. The only unique “advantage” is that this car is backed by Baidu, but the Chinese public is well-aware of the reputation of Baidu’s users.
Even that technology-satirical factory, which can make niche products for tech-savvy dads, has very precise demographics.
- No one seems to have the amount of records that Baidu has when it comes to confusing a good product concept in a large corporation. Baidu Maps has a great mobile version, but that doesn’t stop Baidu from developing a notoriously bad, difficult-to-use car navigation system or inefficient car-life coordination. Furthermore, the department responsible for the in-car navigation system managed to swallow the department responsible for the mobile navigation system. It seems like Baidu’s only product with a good image is slowly deteriorating.
Even on Weibo, the hashtag #集度# hasn’t had over a thousand hits yet…
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.