The two sides will adopt in-depth cooperation rather than parts procurement. The first car will be put into production as soon as this year.
According to people familiar with the matter, SAIC-GM and the drone-making firm DJI were in talks from 2019. It took two years for both sides to come to an agreement for strategic cooperation to improve the whole system together.
At present, DJI has released its intelligent driving system, including D80, D80+, D130 and D130+, in which D80/D80+ can cover the speed range of 0 to 80km/h, covering mainly urban ring roads/expressway scenarios, whereas D130/D130+ can cover the speed range of 0 to 130km/h.
According to official announcements, the hardware configuration scheme shows that, in terms of system functions, D80 and D130 support the driver's hands-off driving, which is equal to L2 autonomous driving, D80+ and D130+ are the perceptions of the former, adding lidar, driving behavior recognition, early warning cameras and four surround-view (fisheye) cameras can achieve L3 autonomous driving further improving system safety.
At present, 'car building fever' has spread from mobile Internet companies to drone companies. On April 12, DJI officially stepped into the track as its WeChat account announced that it would release related products at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 19.
On April 17, the official website 'DJI Automotive' was officially launched. The main content of the website includes two categories: smart driving solutions and smart driving parts. DJI's smart driving solution includes three major systems. In addition to smart driving D80/D80+ and smart driving D130/D130+, there are also smart parking P100/P1000, which are aimed at parking scenarios.
On the hardware side, DJI has self-developed monocular cameras, binocular cameras, domain controllers and DMS. It is understood that these parts are produced by DJI's factory in Shenzhen.
According to the timetable of DJI and its partner car companies, all models equipped with D80 and CA will be mass-produced this year. The D130 and smart parking P100 solutions will be mass-produced next year.