On May 25th, 2021, LI (Li Auto) held its spring launch conference in Beijing, officially announcing the launch of its 2021 model, the LI ONE.
As the 20th car owner to receive the LI ONE since December 2019, I should be one of the earliest owners and can be considered a genuine LI ONE car owner.
Therefore, from the perspective of an old car owner, I would like to talk about my personal views on the 2021 model, or the 21 model LI ONE, after the increase in price by ten thousand yuan, and discuss what differences there are.
At the beginning of this article, I would like to make a declaration as usual that the evaluation of the 21 model LI ONE is completely subjective based on my personal feelings. If it differs from your opinion, please follow your own feelings.
Full-stack development and major upgrades to assisted driving
First, let’s talk about assisted driving. The upgrade of the assisted driving system is the most significant and impactful for the 21 model LI ONE.
As we all know, the 2020 model LI ONE, which equipped only one millimeter wave radar system, relied only on side ultrasonic radar to detect the vehicle’s surroundings. Therefore, the vehicle’s lateral perception is relatively limited.
Such hardware configuration can only be considered “adequate” even when it started to deliver LI ONE at the end of 2019.
Thus, many people have high expectations for the upgrade of the assisted driving hardware for the renovated LI ONE.
However, my previous expectation was only that the upgrading would add four more millimeter wave corner radars to the 20 model LI ONE.
But what I did not expect was that the 21 model LI ONE not only added five fifth-generation Bosch millimeter-wave radars, but also upgraded the visual identification camera from 52 degrees and 1.3 million pixels in the 20 model to 120 degrees and 8 million pixels.
Most importantly, the 21 model LI ONE replaced the visual recognition solution of Mobileye EyeQ4 used in the 20 model, and developed its own perception algorithm. By employing two Horizon Journey 3 autonomous driving dedicated chips, it provides computing power for assisted driving.“`html
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Introduction to the IDEAL AD Advanced Driver Assistance System
With stronger hardware, proprietary algorithms, and the application of high-precision maps, there is no doubt about the capabilities of this advanced driving assistance system.
Recognizing traffic lights, obstacles, and road markings is a given, navigating sharp turns and ramps are a breeze, automatic lane changing and acceleration are not a problem, and the NOA navigation assistance driving function runs smoothly.
At the same time, the driving experience in dealing with details such as cutting in and out, smooth acceleration and deceleration, and recognition of pedestrians and vehicles, will far surpass the 20th edition of the IDEAL ONE.
After all, Mobileye’s nearly black-box perception solution often makes even IDEAL engineers feel helpless despite their best efforts to optimize it.
With proprietary algorithms, this problem no longer exists. With “core technology” in your own hands, rapid iteration can be achieved in both function development and experience optimization.
By the way, the speed of IDEAL’s autonomous driving research and development has exceeded my expectations. I previously thought that IDEAL’s self-developed driver assistance system would only be seen on the next full-size SUV codenamed X01.
Moreover, I thought that even if IDEAL used its own driver assistance system, the user experience would be less effective than the Mobileye solution used in the 20th edition of the IDEAL ONE, as was the case when Tesla switched from AP1.0 to AP2.0.
However, based on the results of media test drives, this proprietary driver assistance system is already performing much better than the one found in the 20th edition in many scenarios. After NOA is opened in September, the driving assistance experience should further improve.
Of course, the IDEAL ONE’s driver assistance system in the 21st edition is not without its flaws. What disappoints me is that the IDEAL ONE is not equipped with side and rear cameras for driver assistance.
Although in line with IDEAL’s style, this system’s performance has been “pushed to the limit,” and even in the absence of particularly outstanding hardware configuration, it can achieve a driving experience that is no less inferior to that of its competitors.However, the relatively “conservative” hardware configuration also limits the height that the 21 version of the Ideal ONE can achieve in terms of assisted driving ability.
That being said, considering that ideal assisted driving is fully equipped and does not require an additional expense of tens of thousands of yuan, it seems that we cannot demand too much for an assisted driving system that is given for free.
Speaking of assisted driving, here are a few extra remarks from an old car owner.
Limited by the current hardware level, besides visual parking assisted driving that will be available via OTA in the future, 20 versions of the Ideal ONE should no longer continue to grow in assisted driving technology with the 21 version.
As for the assisted driving of the 20 version of the Ideal ONE, I have two last expectations:
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I hope that “road speed limit sign recognition” can be implemented as soon as possible. This function has been listed in the official website’s parameter configuration table since the start of the Ideal ONE project. Now that even the upgraded models are out, the road speed limit sign recognition function still cannot be updated via OTA. I’m getting a little impatient waiting for it.
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I hope that the car’s front-to-back remote control feature for parking can be realized. The parking lines in China are generally narrow, while the Ideal ONE is relatively wide, making it difficult to park in certain situations. If the car’s front-to-back remote control feature for parking can be implemented, it will provide a lot of convenience for daily use.
New Car Paint, New Wheels, and Small Adjustments to the Front Face
The 21 version of the Ideal ONE has made adjustments to its exterior colors. While it has cancelled the blue car paint, it has added two special edition colors: Deep Green and Tech Blue.
Personally, I prefer the former of the two new colors. And internal feedback from Ideal confirms that Deep Green is more popular among new car owners.
The undercarriage color of the four regular colors for car paint and the three special edition colors is also different. The undercarriage color of the regular colors is gunmetal, while that of the special edition colors is silver.
# 21款理想 ONE Front Facade Upgrade
The details of the front facade of the 21st Ideal ONE have been adjusted, among which the new Starry Halo light is what I envy most.
By adjusting the internal structure and brightness, the graininess of the new Starry Halo light band is almost imperceptible visually.
Many car owners feel regretful about the granularity of the 20th Ideal ONE Starry Halo light.
Compared to the Concept Car displayed at the Shanghai Auto Show in 2019, the production version of the 20th Ideal ONE Starry Halo light has become less delicate in visual effect.
The official explanation from Ideal is that the brightness of the Starry Halo light of the 20th production version was reduced to comply with regulatory requirements, which caused the graininess to become more noticeable.
However, according to my understanding, the regulation on the brightness of daytime-running lights has been relaxed. Therefore, can OTA be used to restore the brightness of the 20th Ideal ONE Starry Halo light for old car owners?
New Ideal ONE Turn Signal
The turn signal of the new Ideal ONE has been redesigned as two separate lights located below the front face near the bottom. A new low-speed turning auxiliary lamp is added above the turn signal.
I wonder if turning on the low-speed turning auxiliary lamp on a rainy night would significantly improve road illumination.
Front Grille
In addition, the size of the individual honeycomb grille is larger and more sporty, and from the side, the new grille no longer protrudes forward, but is relatively flatter.
Assistive Driving Camera
On the front windshield, the position of the assistive driving camera has changed from two to one since the assistive driving is now self-developed without the need for a shadow mode camera to collect road data like the 20th model.
The front facade details of the 21st Ideal ONE have a certain improvement in practicality compared to the 20th model. However, from a design perspective, I still prefer the front facade of the 20th model, which is more concise and has a stronger overall feeling.
Ideal ONE Sporty Two-Tone Wheels
In addition, the wheel configuration has also changed, and the gray sporty wheels have been removed, while a new double-color sporty wheel has been added.
In my opinion, among the three types of wheel hubs, the luxury two-tone wheel hub best matches the temperament of the ideal ONE. As a luxury two-tone wheel hub car owner, I do not accept any objections to this view.
Soft seats for added comfort
Opening the driver’s door, the most intuitive change in the interior comes from the steering wheel.
New steering wheel
For the 2021 model of the Ideal ONE, the button area of the steering wheel has been redesigned, with the button area changed to a “lever + roller” combination similar to Mercedes-Benz.
The difference is that the surface of the Ideal ONE’s button panel is made of piano baking paint texture technology, instead of the chrome-plated material used by Mercedes-Benz.
The advantage of using a piano baking paint textured panel is that the steering wheel will not freeze your hands in winter when touched. Of course, there is also a disadvantage, that is, there are two fingerprint collectors added to the steering wheel.
The lever of the left button area of the new steering wheel is mainly used to control voice wake-up, Bluetooth calls, and song switching functions, while the roller is used to adjust the volume.
The lever of the right button area is responsible for functions such as automatic parking and dashboard display settings. In addition, there is a star-customized key, and the roller is used to make fine adjustments of 1 km/h per gear for the speed of assisted driving.
From an appearance design perspective, I prefer the button design of the new steering wheel, which has more luxury and technological sense. From the perspective of practicality of the operating logic, I think the 20-model TV remote style keys are better.
The airbag cover in the center of the steering wheel has also been optimized, and the feel has become more delicate. The touch feels more like leather, without the plastic feel of the old airbag cover.
The new Ideal ONE cancels the door panel stitching design on the lower edge of the window and around the door handle, and is designed to be more concise.
The design of the door speaker grille in the luxury feel has been changed from all-metal to chrome-plated trim + interior color plastic mesh. However, I think these changes are not as refined as those in the 2020 Ideal ONE.
When entering the car and sitting on the seats, the most direct feeling is “soft”. Not only has there been a significant improvement in the first and second rows, but the third row seats have also become much softer.
Although the long horizontal seat stitching of the new seats looks plain, the use of a new sponge filling material has indeed improved the comfort of the new seats.
The lumbar massage function of the first and second rows of seats is achieved through lumbar support airbags. After turning on the switch, you can feel that the seat surface of the backrest slowly rises and falls.
As a self-proclaimed young person, I’m not particularly interested in the lumbar massage function. What I care about more is whether all four seats of the new model can achieve seat memory.
Ideal ONE owners often encounter a scenario where they take a car full of friends out to play, and on the way back, everyone is exhausted and likes to put the seats down to sleep.
When everyone gets off the car, the driver needs to manually restore the seats to their original state one by one. If the first and second row seats have memory function, it will be much easier to restore them with one key, saving a lot of trouble.
Unfortunately, since there is no controller equipped in the hardware, this wish cannot be realized in the 2021 Ideal ONE for now.
As for the seats, there is also a change in detail. The safety seat interface has been changed to an exposed type, which sacrifices some aesthetic appearance but improves the convenience of installing child seats.
In addition, the 2021 Ideal ONE has also canceled the seven-seat version. In the sales data of the previous Ideal ONE, more than 96% of the orders were for the six-seat version. From the perspective of improving production efficiency, this decision is also understandable.
Larger Fuel Tank, External Electric Output, More Freedom
Due to the new three-in-one electric rear-drive motor integrated with electronic control, motor, and reducer, there is more space in the new Ideal ONE chassis to arrange a larger fuel tank, increasing its capacity from 45L to 55L.
# Markdown Text in English
After enlarging the fuel tank, the 21 model of the Ideal ONE has a range of 1080 km and 890 km respectively under the NEDC and WLTC standards, which is an increase of 35% over the 20 model, equivalent to adding two to three service areas of range.
Another benefit brought by the three-in-one rear motor is the reduced energy consumption. Without increasing the battery capacity, the pure electric range of the 21 model of the Ideal ONE has increased by 8 km and 5 km respectively under the NEDC and WLTC standards, reaching 188 km and 155 km, compared to the older model.
My daily driving mainly consists of commuting in the city, and the farthest driving distance will not exceed 500 kilometers, so I am not very interested in a large fuel tank.
I am envious of the increase in pure electric range of the 21 model of the Ideal ONE.
As an Ideal car owner who prefers pure electric, I have encountered this situation: I can almost get home with a few kilometers left, but the battery capacity is also approaching the critical point of 17%.
As a stingy Ideal car owner, I would feel extremely uncomfortable to start the range extender for these few kilometers of road.
With the increased range, although this problem cannot be completely solved, at least the trouble can be reduced to some extent.
Or, can Ideal engineers adjust the software to make the old car release a few more kilometers of pure electric range in this scenario, delaying the timing of starting the range extender?
In addition, the 21 model of the Ideal ONE is also equipped with an external electric function, with a maximum power output of 2200 W. Brewing coffee, cooking hot pot, or even using an electric grill should not be a problem.
In this era where not going camping seems to disconnect from society, new car owners should be pleased with this configuration.
Hi, Ideal students
The changes of the Ideal students on the 21 model of the Ideal ONE mainly come from the software level. The voice system of the Ideal student is still based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820A processor and four-microphone hardware.
On this point, there is no difference between the 20 model and the 21 model of the Ideal ONE. After the press conference, I repeatedly confirmed with Ideal staff that the hardware of the two models is the same for in-car voice recognition.The NPU (Natural Language Processing Unit) that has been widely talked about before the launch event seems to be absent in the 2021 model of the IDEAL ONE (though I am not sure if the new model has a reserved upgradable interface).
After switching to the domestically leading processor manufacturer iFLYTEK, the IDEAL ONE will have the following features:
- Continuous conversation
- Voice-activated
- Automatic identification of valid commands
- Visible speech
- Free conversation throughout the vehicle
- More natural voice sound effects
The video below is from IDEAL Motor
Introduction of free conversation throughout the vehicle in IDEAL ONE
For specific feature changes, please refer to the video above.
Inevitable “Hardware OTA”
Hardware upgrade is a topic of great concern for many IDEAL ONE owners and an issue that IDEAL Motor cannot ignore.
Before the launch event of the 2021 IDEAL ONE, intense discussions on hardware upgrades were seen every day in the IDEAL owner WeChat group and the IDEAL Motor APP.
After the launch event, IDEAL Motor announced on its APP the hardware upgrade plan for the 2020 IDEAL ONE, which includes four paid upgrade projects: the first and second-row seats, electric suction doors with electronic child lock, sporty grille, and automatic anti-glare frameless internal rearview mirror.
As for configurations such as larger fuel tanks, new steering wheels, and low-speed steering assist lights, IDEAL Motor has confirmed that they cannot be upgraded on the 2020 IDEAL ONE.
As for myself, I will provide my thoughts on the four upgrade projects:
1. First and second-row seat upgrades. The new seats are indeed softer than those in the 2020 model, so those who have a demand for seats can consider paying for the upgrade.
My driver’s seat in the 2020 model is relatively soft compared to others, and it is within my acceptable range, so I will not upgrade.
I would like to remind other owners that you should control your price expectations for seat upgrades.
Although the final upgrade plan has not been announced, the price of upgrading the seats in the 2020 IDEAL ONE at an after-sales service center is over 9,000 yuan.
Therefore, even if IDEAL Motor lowers the price again and again without considering profits, the price of seat replacement will not be as cheap as some owners think, which is only 1,000 yuan each.2. Electric suction door with electronic child lock. This feature is something that many car owners are looking forward to. As for this upgrade, I will first check the final price before deciding whether to upgrade.
3. Sports-style grille. Compared to the 2020 model, the new grille has not only a different design, but also the benefit of a flat edge design for each honeycomb cell of the grille, which makes it less likely to accumulate dust in the gaps and easier to clean during car washing.
If it can be replaced for free, I would be at the forefront, but if it is a paid upgrade, I feel like it may not be necessary.
4. Automatic anti-dazzle frameless inner rearview mirror. The new rearview mirror simply has no frame and the physical button for manually closing the anti-dazzle function has also been removed. Therefore, I don’t think it is worth spending the money on this.
At Last
In 2019, after test driving the Ideal ONE, I wrote the following impressions:
The Ideal ONE is not a car that is 100% perfect, but if we set aside the unknown quality and stability, it is definitely a great value at the price of 328,000 yuan when we take into account the current configuration and driving performance.
After the release of the 2021 model of Ideal ONE, I think the same impression still applies:
The Ideal ONE is not a car that is 100% perfect. After being validated by more than 55,000 car owners, it is still a great value at the price of 338,000 yuan when we take into account the current configuration and driving performance.
The era of intelligent cars is coming, and consumers’ understanding of cars is quietly changing.
Product capabilities are still the most important criteria that affect consumers’ decisions. However, besides the product, more and more other factors are affecting consumers’ choices.
No one can assert what the successful formula for a car is. Only time can tell us the ultimate answer to this question.
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.