Is it a sure thing with Huawei's support?

Huawei doesn't manufacture cars, but its ambition in the automotive industry is no less than that of automakers. Huawei's HI model and HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving are booming, and there have been numerous exposures about its "Fourth Realm." Recently, Chang'an Automobile Group's SL03 Energy, will launch the SL03 Energy S07 on July 25th. The biggest highlight of the new car is the adoption of Huawei's latest Kunlun Intelligent Driving System.

First, let me clarify that I haven't made a mistake in writing "SL03 Energy S07" as the car name. Perhaps to unify product naming and facilitate marketing, the SL03 Energy S07 will succeed the SL03 Energy S7, forming a clearer product matrix with the SL03 Energy SL03 and SL03 Energy L07, thereby better addressing the mainstream family car market. Compared to the current SL03 Energy S7, the new SL03 Energy S07 mainly upgrades in terms of configuration.

Now back to the Huawei Kunlun Intelligent Driving System equipped in the SL03 Energy S07. "Kunlun" is a brand-new smart car solution brand launched by Huawei in late April this year, with intelligent driving as its core, while "HarmonyOS Cabin" focuses on the intelligent cabin. These two brands are the core of Huawei's smart car solutions.

When the "Kunlun" brand was launched, the official also announced the high-end Kunlun ADS 3.0 version supporting urban intelligent driving, as well as the Kunlun ADS SE version capable of highway pilot assistance and basic smart parking functions. The Huawei Kunlun Intelligent Driving System equipped in the SL03 Energy S07 is the latter.

Perhaps you may feel a bit disappointed that the SL03 Energy S07 didn't adopt the Kunlun ADS 3.0, but in my opinion, this is the best option – although the first application of Kunlun ADS 3.0 (Askena S9) has not been released yet, and we currently don't know the cost changes of Kunlun ADS 3.0, considering the starting prices of Askena and Zhijie models equipped with ADS 2.0 are around 250,000 yuan, the hardware cost supporting Kunlun ADS 3.0 won't be low. The current price range of the SL03 Energy S7 is around 200,000 yuan, so the price of the new SL03 Energy S07 will naturally fall within this range. The cost-effective Huawei Kunlun ADS SE version is undoubtedly the first choice.

Of course, the SL03 Energy S07 could have spared no cost to adopt Huawei's Kunlun ADS 3.0, but the SL03 Energy brand mainly targets the mainstream family car market, where consumers value practicality more. If the SL03 Energy S07 adopts Huawei's Kunlun ADS 3.0, the official will undoubtedly have to pay more costs, but it may not necessarily translate into more revenue. So, will adopting Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE help boost sales of the SL03 Energy S07?

Huawei Delivers an "Intelligent Driving Gift"

In fact, SL03 Energy places great importance on assisted driving functions. The SL03 Energy S7i, which was launched at the end of last year, already came equipped with the Deepal AD system, which is similar to Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE.

Specifically, this Deepal AD system covers three common scenarios: highway piloting, urban cruising, and parking. The official stated that this system can accurately recognize environmental information such as lanes, cones, accident scenes, and can shorten following distances to avoid being cut in. Its automatic parking supports 13 methods, even allowing automatic parking without parking lines by referencing nearby vehicles, with an average parking time of less than 35 seconds.

In terms of experience, Deepal AD is already practical enough, so why adopt Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE version and be willing to share this "piece of the pie" with Huawei?

I believe this is a comprehensive consideration by SL03 Energy based on technology and cost.

Although the existing Deepal AD solution does not use high-cost hardware such as lidar, it achieves similar perception capabilities to lidar using 4D millimeter-wave radar, but essentially still relies on high-precision maps for highway piloting assistance.

I have previously test-driven high-end intelligent driving systems that rely on high-precision maps. The vehicle can make plans in advance based on data collected by the system, but after the test drive, I found that there is a significant drawback to high-end intelligent driving based on high-precision maps – planning cannot keep up with changes. When road changes are discovered after data collection, the map may show the vehicle as crossing lane lines. If automakers follow this solution to the end, they will have to invest in data updates to address this issue.

Although the Huawei Kunlun ADS SE version is functionally similar to Deepal AD, this solution not only eliminates the need for high-precision maps but also lidar, relying solely on visual perception, and shares data with ADS 3.0.

In other words, by adopting Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE, the SL03 Energy S07 solves at least two problems: first, it saves costs on data updates while ensuring minimal changes in price and function; second, although adopting Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE will share part of the "pie" with Huawei, it also utilizes Huawei's intelligent driving data and can leverage Huawei's influence as a technical selling point.

So, how competitive will the SL03 Energy S07 be after adopting Huawei's Kunlun Intelligent Driving System?

More Confidence in Facing Competitors

To assess whether the SL03 Energy S07 is competitive, we must first identify its competitors.

For reference, the starting price of the current SL03 Energy S7i is 184,900 yuan. Assuming that the SL03 Energy S07 equipped with Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE version is also priced around this level, we can deduce that the SL03 Energy S07's competitors include the Leapmotor C series and the upcoming BYD Song L DM-i.

Leapmotor has a strong ability to control costs, with the Leapmotor C10, C11, and C16 priced between 120,000 and 210,000 yuan. Taking the Leapmotor C10, which has the lowest starting price, as an example, the version supporting high-end intelligent driving on highways is priced at 165,800 yuan, which is likely to be lower than the SL03 Energy S07 equipped with Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE system.

Frankly speaking, in terms of experience, Leapmotor's high-end intelligent driving on highways is actually not bad, with capabilities such as overtaking, lane changing, speed adjustment, ramp entry and exit, and merging onto the main road. Coupled with its impressive configuration, the Leapmotor C series has become the guarantee for Leapmotor's monthly sales to exceed 20,000 units, especially the C11 and C01 with lower starting prices.

Looking at the upcoming Song L DM-i, rumors suggest that the new car will offer L2+ level assisted driving functions, including adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, steering wheel-controlled lane changes, and automatic parking assistance. Compared to high-end intelligent driving on highways, the assisted driving functions of the Song L DM-i do not have the "idea" of active overtaking and will follow the driver's operations, adjusting based on the speed of the preceding vehicle. Moreover, this system is likely to appear only in higher-end versions, with an expected price of just over 200,000 yuan.

From the perspective of the target audience, high-end intelligent driving is not yet a rigid demand for them. For automobiles, a major consumer good, they not only value cost-effectiveness but also consider brand power, practicality, energy consumption, etc. Therefore, even if Leapmotor models equipped with high-end intelligent driving on highways are cheaper, that is not the main reason for their popularity. The Song L DM-i's lack of high-end intelligent driving on highways does not mean it will be unpopular.

In comparison, the SL03 Energy S07, with its brand influence and cost-effectiveness advantages, may not completely "crush" its competitors, but with Huawei's Kunlun Intelligent Driving System, it is expected to reach a wider audience.

The Battle for Entry-level Intelligent Driving is Imminent

It is often said that "the first half of the automobile era is electrification, and the second half is intelligence." Many insiders deeply agree with this view, gradually extending high-end intelligent driving systems to entry-level products. Besides the SL03 Energy S07, which is the first to adopt Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE, there is also the Baojun Yunluo Lingxi version equipped with DJI's high-end intelligent driving system, and the recently released Xpeng MONA M03, which adopts a pure vision-based intelligent driving solution, pushing the threshold of high-end intelligent driving below 150,000 yuan. Even BYD is following this trend.

As I mentioned earlier, high-end intelligent driving is not yet a rigid demand in the entry-level consumer market, but its popularization is likely just a matter of time.

High-end intelligent driving has been introduced into the domestic market for several years, but there were initially many doubts and criticisms. It was not until the launch of intelligent driving systems capable of "driving anywhere in the country" by companies like HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving and Xpeng that high-end intelligent driving gradually gained recognition.

However, around 150,000 yuan is the main budget for car purchases in China, and there are still too few models equipped with high-end intelligent driving within this price range. In other words, high-end intelligent driving has not yet become affordable. It was only with the launch of models like the Baojun Yunluo Lingxi version and the Leapmotor C series that the threshold for high-end intelligent driving was lowered below 150,000 yuan, allowing more users to become aware of it.

Indeed, the target audience in the mainstream consumer market places more emphasis on practicality and is not sensitive to high-end intelligent driving. However, if high-end intelligent driving can become more affordable, it will naturally attract more consumers, increasing the probability of recognition. Products equipped with high-end intelligent driving will gradually gain market acceptance.

On the path towards making high-end intelligent driving affordable, due to cost constraints, the intelligent driving capabilities of mid-to-low-end products are very basic and do not provide a satisfactory experience. I previously test-drove the Nezha X equipped with high-end intelligent driving, which could also overtake on highways autonomously, but its basic logic was to always drive in the overtaking lane at the speed limit and then change lanes to exit the ramp two kilometers before the destination. If the speed of the vehicle ahead in the overtaking lane was around 110km/h, the vehicle would not change lanes to overtake.

I'm not sure if Nezha's high-end intelligent driving has been upgraded, but based on market feedback from other mid-to-low-end products equipped with high-end intelligent driving, the intelligent driving capabilities of entry-level models have not yet reached a level that all consumers are willing to use.

Now that Huawei has entered the fray, although the price of the SL03 Energy S07 equipped with Huawei's Kunlun ADS SE version may not yet be below 150,000 yuan, according to Huawei Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU CEO Jin Yuzhi, Huawei will help automakers apply intelligent driving to vehicles priced around 150,000 yuan. In other words, it is entirely possible that in the future, models equipped with Huawei's high-end intelligent driving system will be launched within this price range. With data shared with Huawei's Kunlun high-end intelligent driving system, the Kunlun high-end intelligent driving base version may become a "trump card" for entry-level models.

The SL03 Energy S07 has lowered the entry threshold for Huawei's Kunlun Intelligent Driving System to below 200,000 yuan. From an industry perspective, we may well see more "SL03 Energy S07s" with lower prices and equipped with Huawei's Kunlun Intelligent Driving System in the future.

Source: LeiTech