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Huawei revs up drive for 5G-equipped smart electric cars with launch of Arcfox luxury sedan

  • The Arcfox αS HBT is the first car to get the full Huawei HI system, which includes Harmony OS, lidar and 5G
  • Huawei is looking to grow in an increasingly crowded electric car market, which includes competitors Xiaomi and Baidu, amid US sanctions

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BYD introduced the first car with the Huawei HiCar system in February. Photo: Che Pan
Che PanandCelia Chen
Huawei Technologies Co and Chinese carmaker Arcfox have launched the first electric car with a full suite of autonomous-driving features, as the telecoms equipment giant looks for new sources of revenue after its networking gear and smartphone businesses were hobbled by US sanctions.
The Arcfox αS HBT is the first car to get Huawei HI, a complete intelligent automotive solution that runs on the firm’s own Harmony OS and lidar chip, and has 5G connectivity, the company said. This differentiates it from Huawei’s simpler HiCar smart screen that has already been used in a vehicle from Chinese carmaker BYD.

“It is a next-generation, intelligent and purely electric luxury sedan jointly built by Arcfox and Huawei,” a spokesman said on Wednesday, adding that the car will launch on April 17.

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By bringing all these components together, the vehicle is capable of level-3 autonomous driving, according to a WeChat post by partner BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology, the owner of Arcfox and a leading maker of electric vehicles in China. This level of automation allows drivers to safely take their attention off the road under certain conditions, but they must still be prepared to intervene when needed.

Huawei HiCar is just one part of the Huawei HI system, which also includes lidar and 5G, allowing for level-3 autonomous driving. Photo: Che Pan
Huawei HiCar is just one part of the Huawei HI system, which also includes lidar and 5G, allowing for level-3 autonomous driving. Photo: Che Pan

Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, is supposed to help in this area. It is similar to radar but uses light instead of radio waves, offering higher precision in certain environments owing to the shorter waves.

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However, the high cost of lidar has led some to question its feasibility for autonomous driving, most notably Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said adding it to vehicles would be “a fool’s errand”.

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