Author |Not empty
The last week of 2023 has become the "final exam" for Chinese car companies.
NIO took the lead and released the ET9, a large flagship sedan at NIO Day on December 23, officially launching the first shot of the acceleration of the year-end impulse of car companies. Three days later, Huawei launched the flagship model of luxury technology, the Wenjie M9. On the 27th, ZEEKR 007 and BAIC Jihu T5 both came out. It's just that these two pieces of news were quickly drowned out in the marketing voice of a cutting-edge car company. This cutting-edge car company that has debuted is the "last entrepreneurial project" of marketing veteran Lei Jun - Xiaomi Auto.
Source: @雷军微博.
The war is far from over. On the first day of 2024, Xpeng Motors launched its first MPV model, Xpeng X9, and at the same time, the ideal MEGA will also be put on the plan.
In the trajectory of many fierce battles between car companies, the battlefield has also become clear - whether it is 2 blocks 14 in the back row of NIO ET95-inch executive screen、35Speaker audio system configuration,Or WenjieM9Harmony cockpit with ten screens、Huawei xpixel megapixel smart projection headlights,The ambitions of car companies are no different from Lei Jun's declaration at the Xiaomi car press conference:Realize the complete closed loop of the whole ecology of people, vehicles and homes.
Source: @蔚来官方微博.
According to the data of nine cities measured by China Guangshi Sofurui Media Research (CSM).In the first ten months of 2023, the average consumption time of in-vehicle audio-visual scenes is nearly 60 minutes, which is 14 times. This means that in-vehicle audio-visual is the main scenario for people's audio-visual consumption, which contains promising growth potential.
Liu Zongkai, head of NIO's digital cockpit intelligent hardware experience team, shared a set of data that in the first three quarters of 2023, car owners' time spent entertaining in the car increased by 33%, and showed an accelerated growth momentum. "In addition to watching**, brushing Douyin, chasing station B, and listening to books, karaoke in the car has become a necessary game link for family travel, and there are also car owners playing games in the car. ”Cars carry not only the flesh, but also poetry and distance.
As early as November 29th, at the "Audiovisual West Lake" theme seminar of the China Audiovisual Innovation Conference, Ding Mai, chairman and general manager of Guangshi Sofurui Media Research, proposed that the improvement of Internet of Vehicles technology will reshape the vehicle scene and create a new format, that is, car life. Wang Haibin, vice chairman of the Radio and Television Research and Development Committee of the China Broadcasting Federation and CEO of Archimedes Media under SMG"Third Place".The concept summarizes the development direction of smart cars: to become the third important space in addition to home and office.
Just like the imminent new energy vehicle war, the battlefield of on-board audio-visual is also about to usher in the "rush" of many large companiesIt not only includes car companies such as Weilai, Huawei, and Xiaomi, but also includes ** platforms such as iQiyi, audio companies such as Elvis Presley, and even established media organizations such as SMG.
In 2024, the battle for in-vehicle audio-visual has just begun.
The upgrade of the in-vehicle AV system is the epitome of the transformation of the automotive industry. In the early days, the in-car audio-visual system consisted of a simple radio and was the basic add-on to the car. In recent years, the rise and popularization of new energy vehicles have fundamentally changed the value and status of on-board audio-visual systems, and directly led to the revolution of driving environment and ride comfort. The power system of new energy vehicles supports high-power speakers to achieve a richer ** and voice interaction experience, and at the same time, the number of speakers is significantly larger than that of traditional fuel vehicles, which greatly improves the sound quality experience. All these factors have created new opportunities for the upgrade of in-vehicle systems. In fact, new energy vehicle companies are taking the on-board audio-visual scene as the entry point to complete the outflanking of traditional fuel vehicles. On the one hand, the auditory experience is still the foundation of the in-vehicle audio-visual scene, and for this reason, new energy vehicle companies are constantly exploring in the direction of "extreme". A large number of new energy vehicle companies have taken creating a high-quality in-vehicle listening experience as an important goal of technological innovation and product upgrading, and have even entered the game to develop their own in-vehicle sound systems. 
Source: Pexels
The just-launched ZEEKR 007 uses a 21-speaker level 71.4 Dolby Atmos sound, this configuration cannot be called high-end in the industry. Known as the "King of Science and Technology", the M9 is equipped with the new HUAWEI SOUND series of audio systems, equipped with 25 professional-grade audio units, and at the same time, the star ring scatterer on the center console of the M9 also applies Schroder acoustic scattering technology to ensure that you can enjoy the best sound quality experience anywhere in the car.
At the beginning of 2023, BYD, which decisively gave up fuel vehicles and fully focused on new energy vehicles, released a new model, Yangwang U8, whose car audio system is a new technology jointly created by Yangwang U8 and Dynaudio audio.
On the other hand, new energy vehicle companies are also constantly opening up the imagination space of visual experience in the in-vehicle scene.
The HarmonyOS cockpit of the M9 is equipped with ten screens, and a 32-inch lifting projection screen is also provided. Behind such a big deal is the hope that the entertainment time of car owners will be gradually increased through the upgrade of the viewing experience.
The efforts of car companies have been responded to by users.
In the context of Internet traffic almost peaking, the in-vehicle audio-visual scene has become a blue ocean for the growth of Internet platforms. CSM data shows that WeChat, as a national-level application, accounts for the highest proportion of use in in-vehicle audio-visual scenes, followed by short-term platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou. It is worth noting that compared to the same period in 2022, the average increase of these internet platforms in 2023 is only 186%, of which, the growth of in-vehicle scenarios is as high as 3592%, the fastest momentum.
Source: Pexels
The upgrading of visual experience and the continuous change of technology are indeed changing users' content consumption habits at the same time.
For the transformation of car audio-visual, Ding Mai proposed a division standard, in her view, the content consumption trend of car audio-visual is inseparable from the development of technology. In the early stages of in-vehicle audio-visual, cars need to be driven by people and can only consume audio content. When the autonomous driving technology matures, people's hands and eyes will be liberated, and the consumption of ** content will be fully exploded. "In the future, when the car truly becomes a mobile second home, diversified and personalized products and services will inevitably play a huge role in the in-vehicle scene. ”
The incremental space of in-vehicle audio-visual stimulates the enthusiasm of the content side, and further iterates the audio-visual content in the direction of refinement and diversification.
More natural, personalized and emotional interaction is one of the directions of in-vehicle audio-visual.
In the era of fuel vehicles, users can only interact with content in the form of buttons and touches, which poses a great test to users' patience and use costs. In the era of intelligent networking, smooth and natural forms of interaction such as intelligent voice have gradually become popular, providing the shortest path to reach content, and making it more convenient for users to operate and use.
NIO's AI voice assistant, NOMI, has become a bridge for users to interact naturally with the content ecosystem. NOMI's important innovation in terms of interaction is the integration of emotions into the conversation. "When we designed NOMI, we started with intelligence as the starting point, but in the end we didn't just want to be a robot assistant, but an emotional partner. Liu Zongkai explained the original design intention of NOMI, and after injecting emotion, NOMI can not only actively sing birthday songs on users' birthdays, but also actively find age-appropriate learning content for children in the back row.
Source: @蔚来官方微博.
AI algorithms are a powerful accelerant for improving interaction capabilities. iQIYI uses AI algorithms to identify the information in each frame in real time, and provides users with interactive services accordingly. This method is especially critical at the long end, "If you don't know the new actors in the play when you are chasing the drama, or you don't know the stalks in the lines, you can ask questions in real time to understand." Huang Shuangxi, general manager of iQIYI's smart home and Internet of Vehicles business department, explained.
Immersive content experience is the second direction of in-vehicle audio-visual.
In terms of audio, more and more car companies are moving Dolby Atmos into the cockpit to upgrade the listening experience. 3D surround sound system is also the acoustic technology that car companies are competing to chase, Porsche Panamera is equipped with the Berlin Sound 3D surround sound system, this system includes 31 speakers and 8 oscillators placed in the seat back, which can provide five modes such as natural softness and live true surround 3D, which can be called a mobile ** hall.
Source: Porsche's official website.
As for **, 3D and 5D immersive content have been widely used in in-vehicle audio-visual. Huang Shuangxi said that iQIYI, as a content creation and ** platform, can identify the scene of content ** in real time, and then linearize the cockpit equipment through a large number of sensors in the cockpit, including ambient lighting, air conditioning, seat vibration, etc. "Through the generation of scene labels, we can transform 2D content into 5D content, and truly realize the communication with the sensors in the cockpit while being the first to do so. ”
The wave of change in AIGC has reshaped the accuracy of in-vehicle audio-visual content distribution and provided new ideas for in-vehicle audio-visual upgrades.
In Wang Haibin's view, the accuracy of content distribution is reflected in three levels, one of which is that the distribution logic of real-time information should be user-centric, "providing users with the most real-time information that they should know, such as the places they are passing by or about to pass". The second is that the content needs to be broadcast live in real time to provide users with information increments based on the latest developments. The third is that content distribution also needs to follow a clear narrative logic and not be disorganized. "The content of the car broadcast needs to be in line with the user's state at all times, and create a personalized program list for the user around the clock. ”
The improvement of the on-board audio-visual system not only needs to supplement the content pool and add entertainment functions, but also needs advanced technology to improve the user's experience and comfort, which has become an important fulcrum to open up the on-board audio-visual ecology.
One of the carriers that vividly shows audio-visual technology is the large screen configured in the smart car. According to the monitoring data of the Gaogong Intelligent Vehicle Research Institute, from January to July 2023, the proportion of 10-inch and above central control screens in all central control screens will increase from 59 in the same period in 202227% to 7613%。This means that in the first seven months of 2023, at least three out of every four cars sold will be equipped with a large central control screen of more than 10 inches, which shows the potential of cars in audio-visual content.
Multi-screen and large-screen have become an important trend in the development of car companiesFrom the previous single central control screen, it has evolved into a central control screen and an additional screen, and even a triple screen of instrument, central control and co-pilot.
Source: Wenjie M9
Geely released this year's Galaxy E8,The car is equipped with45inch8K unbounded smart screen,It is currently the largest central control screen in China。 Known as the daddy-type flagship SUV, the ideal L9 has created a design of "central control screen + co-pilot entertainment screen + rear entertainment screen", and the rear entertainment screen adopts a folding design, which opens up space for audio-visual entertainment while making reasonable use of the layout of the car.
In addition to configuring a large screen in the car,Some car companies also use AR glasses as an extension of the large screen, which can not only effectively save space, but also provide a large screen visual experience.
NIO has created a native in-car AR glasses, "because the space of the car cannot be infinitely enlarged, it must ultimately match the size of the parking space and the width of the road, and in such a limited space, the user's pursuit of screen content is unlimited." At the same time, the main driver needs to focus and be efficient when driving, and does not need a screen, and the passengers next to him may have entertainment needs, and how to balance the conflict between the main driver and the passenger is also a common problem. Based on these problems, NIO finally chose to break the limitations of space in the form of built-in AR glasses.
Source: @蔚来官方微博.
In addition to the entertainment scene, Liu Zongkai said that AR glasses also open up an immersive and private environment for users in the car. "The AR glasses and the independent sound driver in the cockpit ensure that the picture and sound are not perceived by anyone else. ”
The real landing of the in-car entertainment ecology is inseparable from space and scenes, which is the intelligent cockpit. Different from fuel vehicles, new energy is equipped with a large number of sensors in the intelligent cockpit, which are linear, adjustable, and can be linked through APIs and applications. As a result, the on-board audio-visual can effectively cooperate and interact with the hardware in the cockpit to achieve a scene-based audio-visual entertainment experience in the cockpit.
Technology upgrades are always full of excitement, the traditional vehicle scene combined with new technologies and new models to open up a new market space, it is foreseeable that the vehicle audio-visual is ushering in a deep change. However, technological changes are inevitably accompanied by anxiety, and the foundation of traditional broadcasting is still deeply rooted in the scene of on-board audio-visual, and how practitioners, content parties, and technology providers collaborate is also a key proposition that needs to be considered.