The 5G mobile technology giant, Huawei, aims to promote intelligent driving R&D across the industry for the early realization of fully autonomous vehicles.
At the 2021 Huawei Global Analyst Conference on April 12, the chairman of the firm, Xu Zhijun, indicated that the automotive industry has been the most transformative sector in the past decade. He announced that Huawei will invest over USD 1 billion in the automotive R&D sector this year, including investment in autonomous driving.
Xu stressed that Huawei's mission is to assist companies in the manufacturing and research processing of electric vehicles. Huawei first started developing EV-related triboelectric technologies with a focus on autonomous driving functions back in 2012. Through its endeavors, the company has recognized the significance of ICT technology in order to achieve a completely autonomous driving system.
In addition to the consumer business, Xu also claimed that Huawei's most complete business unit is the intelligent vehicle business at present. By further revealing that Huawei has designed a brand tag called Huawei Inside for its vehicle sector and will only credit this tag to autonomous vehicles.
As a leading figure in the ICT industry, Huawei is expected to incorporate with vehicle brands through Huawei Inside and subsequently produce sub-brands. According to Xu, Huawei has currently teamed up with BAIC New Energy, GAC New Energy and Changan Automobile.
"There are 30 million vehicles in China's market," Xu said, "Even if we do not expand our vehicle business to foreign countries, we are still self-sustainable with the surging demand of the domestic market, with the average annual revenue of CNY 10,000 per car. But surely, Huawei is a global brand and will not just focus on the local market."
The tech firm also revealed that its newly designed autonomous vehicles will be accessible for test rides at the Shanghai Auto Exhibition this year.