As the key technology of automotive industry continues to accelerate towards information and communication technology (ICT) from manufacturing, digitalization and intelligence vehicles are becoming the two key battlefields that ICT leaders.
China’s tech giant Huawei announced it has launched Intelligent vehicle solutions BU (Business Unit) on May 29, positioning itself as tier 1 supplier in auto industry.
“As the key technology of automotive industry continues to accelerate towards information and communication technology (ICT) from manufacturing, digitalization and intelligence vehicles are becoming the two key battlefields that ICT leaders to make a foray into, ”Huawei’s internal notice about the issue says. Huawei emphasized again that the company has no plan to build its own vehicle in the notice as well. The new department will report directly to the company’s CEO.
In April, Huawei’s Rotating Chairman XU Jun (Eric Xu, 徐军) announced its intelligent vehicle solutions for OEMs at the Auto Shanghai 2019 Key Tech Forum from following services:
Octopus: Huawei Cloud-based cloud service for autonomous driving (training, simulation, testing)
MDC (Mobile Data Center): in-vehicle computing platform and intelligent driving subsystem solution
4G/5G in-vehicle communication module/T-Box, network solutions
HiCar: people-car-home connectivity solution for all scenarios
mPower: multi-form charging and battery management solutions
Huawei’s founder REN Zhengfei (任正非) once claimed that Internet of Vehicle (IoV), Artificial Intelligence and Edge Computing represent the future of Huawei.
Based on ICT, Huawei wants to be a digital car-oriented components provider for automakers. This area has long been controlled by overseas counterparts like Bosch and Continental in China. It is the time for Huawei to become a leader from China as a tier 1 supplier worldwide.
Huawei has built a strong presence across business sectors ranging from information technology and telecommunication networks. When the company decided to move into smartphone industry in 2009, Huawei proved its ability to move from 2B business to 2C business. The company accounted for 14.7% of the world phone market share in 2018, up from 4% in 2012. It gears up for auto industry now.
Huawei has been preparing for the day for years. Huawei has integrated its mobile data center platform into the Audi Q7, the company announced in October 2018. State-owned automaker BAIC’s electric vehicle affiliate Beijing Electric Vehicle Company (BJEV) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei to co-develop intelligent vehicle technologies in earlier 2019. April, Huawei announced its cooperation with Volvo to build in-car service platform together.