One sentenceElectrification in the first halfThe second half was intelligentindustry consensus. Technological breakthroughs in the field of electrification have begun to slow down, but intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving have become the focus of differentiated layout of car companies in the period of intelligent transformation.
From the product side, the key to determining the car experience is the level of intelligence.
As small as a large screen, as large as a high-end intelligent driving function, and even the refrigeration degree of the refrigerator and the flat angle of the sofa, it will also be used to make up the number for intelligence.
One of the phenomena of involution is that most players are trying to follow the path that others have taken in order to reduce the cost of trial and error.
For example, the number of screens, interactive innovation, and AI models have almost become the paradigm of intelligent cockpits, and intelligent driving has begun to evolve along Tesla's path from BEV to occupancy network iteration.
This also causes consumers' perception of intelligence to depend entirely on the technical route verified by the head players.
At this time, electrification and intelligence are developed separately.
On the one hand, we are exploring the best solution for electrification in the direction of high-voltage platforms, and on the other hand, we are involuting with urban NOA as the highest realm of intelligence.
In Wang Chuanfu's view, the understanding of automotive intelligence cannot be limited to intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving, but the integration of intelligence and electricThe whole vehicle is intelligent
Huawei has also proposed a similar intelligent route, using the integration of intelligence and chassis mechanical quality to bring users a better, safer, and more comfortable driving experience.
One is a new energy giant, the other is a new king in the field of intelligence, and the tacit understanding between the two has, to a certain extent, determines that the definition of intelligence is emerging in a new direction.
Catching up with intelligence, BYD took out its home
The vehicle intelligence in Wang Chuanfu's mouth is to let the car have an intelligent brain, link the neural network, break through the system barriers, and implement the integration of electrification and intelligence.
The birth of the Xuanji platform solves the problem of how BYD uses a set of electronic and electrical architecture to achieve compatibility with different intelligent driving, intelligent cabins and power systems.
This is also BYD's first-class electronic and electrical architecture, and the electronic and electrical architecture of the first three generations can be regarded as the foundation laid by BYD for vehicle intelligence.
BYD e platform. 0, mainly to achieve the three-electric technology platform, is still a distributed electronic and electrical architecture, different domains are independent, control different equipment and functions.
It is equivalent to the cockpit domain and the intelligent driving domain each performing their duties, and one is responsibleIn-car intelligence, one is responsibleDriving smart
The advantage is that car companies can find the best business solutions for the needs of the five functional domains, and quickly splice them into a smart car; However, this not only raises the cost of the whole vehicle, but also the computing power of the distributed ECU cannot be coordinated, resulting in a large amount of computing power waste.
Secondly, the ECU contains embedded OS, which is provided by different vendors, and the functions cannot be uniformly maintained and OTA upgraded, and the distributed architecture requires a large amount of internal communication, resulting in increased wiring harness costs and assembly difficulties.
For example, the BYD e platform 2Although the products under 0 are hot, they are difficult to complete the OTA upgrade of the whole vehicle.
According to the data of the Passenger Association, BYD has achieved a total of 3 OTA upgrades in 2022, and NIO and Ideal OTA have been upgraded in the same year10 times, in terms of intelligence, it has formed a differentiated competition with BYD.
BYD, which suffered a loss in architecture, did not choose to give up.
From e platform 3Starting from 0, BYD will integrate four domain controllers to achieve centralized control at the vehicle level, including intelligenceVehicle control domain, smartPower domain, smartDriving domain, smartCockpit domain
This is like using one person to do the work of two people, and while reducing a domain controller, it not only saves simple procurement costs, but also brings the advantages of independent and controllable chains.
Computing platformThree or four domain controls(cockpit domain, intelligent driving domain, body domain, power domain) is also the most commonly used scheme in the industry, including Xpeng based on Xeea3.The 0 platform launched G9 and the ideal will be based on leea3The 0 platform mass production of pure electric models, as well as the integrated architecture of Leap Clover** and the Nezha Shanhai platform have also begun to launch corresponding products.
It is in this context that the Xuanji architecture emerges, further integrating the originally independent chassis domain on the same domain control to support rich and high-end intelligent driving functions.
In other words, the Xuanji architecture is also a typical ** computing + regional control mode, but in other homes.
On the basis of three or four domains, the collaborative control of the chassis domain is integrated with a multi-board (PCB) board design scheme.
An obvious change is that if the traditional chassis is like a feature machine, then the intelligent chassis is more like a smartphone, from the original adaptive adjustment and control for any scene, to now realize all-round perception and control of road conditions and driving status.
The domain centralized architecture is recognized by the industry as the direction of change in the automotive electronic architecture, and the *integration + zone controller architecture is regarded as the ultimate solution, but the cross-domain integration is not simply the integration of several aspects of the ability together, and the increased difficulty is not addition, but multiplication.
After all, this involves the design of the electronic and electrical architecture of the whole vehicle, which requires in-depth communication and coordination, and requires car companies to have sufficient technical accumulation in electrification and intelligence, and more importantly, to have the ability to reintegrate.
This is also why Wang Chuanfu confidently said that the whole vehicle is intelligent, and now only BYD can do it.
In order to realize the intelligence of the whole vehicle, it is necessary to lay out at the strategic level of the enterprise and achieve the vertical integration of full-stack resources, so that all systems can be linked and integrated. 」
The vehicle is intelligent, and BYD is half a position ahead of Huawei
For car companies, mastering the dominance of EE architecture and software is equivalent to occupying the commanding heights of the smart car market.
Before the launch of the Xuanji architecture, BYD's first three generations of architecture experienced a shift from distributed to integrated, and thanks to BYD's accumulation in the electronic components industry chain, it achieved faster self-development and controllability than the new car-making forces.
After the launch of the Xuanji architecture, BYD's definition of intelligence includes vehicle intelligence, intelligent driving, intelligent parking and intelligent cockpit, which is more three-dimensional than the focus of new car-making forces on intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit.
Take the integration of electrification and intelligence as examples.
The former can predict in advance the optimal suspension stiffness and damping when passing through these road surfaces through the road surface data collected by the lidar and various sensors, according to the information such as vehicle speed, electric valve opening and driving mode at that time;
The latter can be controlled independently by the four-wheel motor to complete more difficult automatic parking scenarios.
This is BYD's intelligent answer, thinking about intelligent driving from the perspective of the whole vehicle, truly opening up the perception, decision-making, and execution of the vehicle, so that intelligent driving can play a richer role in the whole vehicle system.
As for BYD's intelligent driving ability, where does it come from?
Wang Chuanfu also emphasized that BYD has built a full-stack self-developed intelligent driving R&D system, with a total of more than 4,000 engineers in the entire self-research team, of which more than 1,000 are responsible for algorithms and hardware servicesMore than 3000 peopleResponsible for the software part.
In the field of intelligent driving, both the size of the team and the ability of research and development have an absolute advantage over domestic players.
While the pace of intelligent driving is accelerating, BYD will continue to invest in intelligence in the future100 billionYuan.
In fact, from the perspective of intelligent integration, only BYD and Huawei in the industry can achieve this level.
Taking the road perception scenario as an example, Huawei's problem-solving idea is very similar to BYD's
Huawei's MFSS multi-modal fusion perception system and HUAWEI Xmotion intelligent body cooperative control system can scan the road surface 150 meters in advance, providing multi-dimensional information about the vehicle's motion status and road surface characteristics, and improving the vehicle's endurance, comfort, handling, and stability.
Similarly, the DENZA N7 has recently pushed the pavement preview mode through OTA, and the preview system will work with the Yunnan-A to adjust the attitude for real-time road conditions to deal with large curvature ramps, autonomous lane changes, and autonomous obstacle avoidance.
Before the upgrade, passing the speed bump was like diving headlong, but after the upgrade, it was obvious that the car was prepared in advance, the collision was gentle, and the body was not shaky, a Denza N7 owner shared the experience of road preview mode.
In contrast, the Zhijie S7 equipped with the Huawei Touring chassis, when frequently passing over speed bumps, the car feels not a grunt, but a grunt, which is also eye-catching in a sports car, but there is some room for improvement in its high-speed throwing and jumping.
From the perspective of user experience differences, although under the combination of Huawei's intelligent control and mechanical tuning, the Tuling intelligent chassis is half a position higher than the traditional chassis, but BYD's advantage is to empower the suspension with intelligence, so that the sensors of intelligent driving can prepare the suspension in advance.
It is equivalent to the full-stack control of the eyes, brain, and limbs from the perception architecture, intelligent computing center, intelligent control technology and key components.
On the one hand, electrification has brought about a change in the vehicle architecture, and the vehicle control has changed from mechanical control to electrical signal control, and the accuracy and efficiency have been greatly improved;
On the other hand, new energy vehicles integrate a variety of sensing elements, based on a new architecture design, which can realize the deep intelligent integration of the whole vehicle and make the perception dimension more diverse.
Self-development of core components, the key to vehicle intelligence
Intelligent chassisEasy to square parkingThis is one of the advantages of the combination of intelligence and electrification.
However, compared with BYD, which makes most of its own parts, Huawei is currently only intelligent in some fields (chassis, motor, electric drive), rather than BYD based on comprehensive and in-depth self-research on vehicle technology.
If the electrification of new energy vehicles is the bone, then intelligence is the flesh and blood, which can only be exerted with the support of strong bonesadvantages.
Why is it said that full-stack self-development can realize vehicle intelligence? There are three reasons for this.
One isVertical chain system capability。From battery metal raw materials, to automotive molds and IGBTs, covering all aspects of self-development and self-production of core components.
This is like going to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, the full-stack self-research can purchase ingredients and cook according to personal tastes, and the initiative is completely in your own hands.
The second isFusion grinding ability
From all the sensors and components on the vehicle to the chassis and body of the whole vehicle, all the comprehensive capabilities are opened up and integrated, and the vehicle intelligence pays attention to the overall strength.
The third isDetermine the intelligence level of the upper limit of the whole vehicle
Intelligence is not a goal that can be achieved in a short sprint, it requires long-term and systematic investment.
The first half of new energy vehicles is electrification, the second half is intelligent, and the future of intelligent electric vehicles is inseparable from the ecological closed loop of intelligence + electric, intelligence + chassis, and intelligence + energy supplement.
As an industry giant in China's new energy vehicle market, BYD is obviously full of all kinds of trump cards, but unlike other players who come up to play a stud, how to play the cards in their hands with just the right rhythm to play Wang Fried, this is BYD's competitive strategy.
Behind the intelligent landing of BYD's whole vehicle, it is also the general trend of the entire automotive industry to rapidly turn to intelligence.
The so-called intelligence is not to blindly pile up hardware, functions, and parameters, but to make there is no sense of separation between various experiences of a car, so that all intelligent driving and interaction become more convenient and natural, and make the user experience more convenient, which is the real intelligence.
For a simple example, some intelligent driving systems do not have a visual perception interface and no voice interaction reminder, which makes it impossible for drivers and passengers to accurately grasp the allowable state of the system.
In Wang Chuanfu's words, if a car's power system is bought, the chassis system is also bought, and the intelligent system is still bought, and even smooth communication can't be done, then how can he achieve the real sense of intelligent and electric integration and vehicle intelligence.
In this experience-first era, consumers may not care about whether the car has the potential to be fully intelligent, but what functions you can bring, after all, there is no shortage of players in the market with mass production experience and software research and development capabilities.
Let's go back to BYD's press conference. BYD did not come up with advanced intelligent driving technology, nor did it talk about the rhythm of intelligent driving, most of the time is talking about the underlying architecture and research and development of intelligence, and this is just to tell you - BYD that others have and others do not have, BYD can also be mass-produced.
BYD, which is hiding behind its back, has divided intelligence into two different stages, one is the narrow sense of intelligence that the new car-making forces focus on intelligent cabin and intelligent driving, and the other is the all-round intelligence that integrates electrification and intelligence.
As for which way to lead to intelligence will be more conducive to user experience, it is necessary to give BYD and new power players a complete time cycle to verify.
It can be believed that now car companies are playing intelligent, and the test is far more than just taking out gadgets and tricks in the intelligent cockpit, but the intelligence that is closer to the vehicle architecture.