The Tesla Model 3 Rival is starting to ship
The cars are equipped with Huawei self-driving technology
Huawei’s first production car equipped with autonomous driving technology has now been delivered to Chinese customers.
The Alpha S is an electric sedan that competes with the Tesla Model 3 and is badged as Arcfox, a trademark owned by BAIC, the state-owned Beijing Automobile Group.
But even if the name is not familiar to fans of Western cars, what is under the skin can arouse a decent interest.
Because the car is believed to be the first car in the world to combine a smart cabin based on Huawei’s Harmony OS with a full set of self-driving features created by the Chinese tech giant.
The company is clearly confident in its hardware and software, with Chinese media reporting that the car is better than Tesla. Hisar technology – HI stands for “Huawei Inside” – enables Level 3 hands-free autonomous driving as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers, delivered via three Lidar sensors, six mmW radar sensors, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and nine. ADS units and four spatial cameras. The system also has 400 TOPs of computing power.
There are also backups of sensors, architecture, and other areas of the car, meaning that if the main system goes down, the car can still be used.
Two versions of the Alpha -S will be offered initially, with a cheaper model – starting at around $59,000 – that allows autonomous driving on the highway, and a more expensive variant ($63,750) that offers self-driving features in the city.
Videos on YouTube show the depth of the Huawei system’s capabilities, enabling driving in urban areas, turning left, stopping at traffic lights, and making room for pedestrians. they gave In terms of performance, the Alpha-S has a peak output of 473kW and a peak torque of 655Nm, meaning it can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds.
It adds to the car’s arsenal the Harmony OS Smart Cockpit, which debuted earlier this year in the Aito M5 plug-in hybrid SUV. The Alpha-S is the first pure electric car to benefit from the Smart Cockpit feature, which offers a range of connected functions and seamless synchronization with Huawei smartphones.
With a large number of Alpha-S deliveries already underway, production is ramping up at the car’s Zhenjiang plant in Jiangsu province, where it is produced in collaboration with parts supplier Magna.
Tags: Connected cars Autonomous cars Tesla Huawei Self-driving car Arcfox Bejing Automotive Group Supply chain, transportation, and logistics News