Recently, BAIC Group and CATL signed a series of deepening strategic cooperation agreements. Among them, BAIC Group, CATL and Times Electric Service signed a framework agreement on the battery swap project, and BAIC Research Institute and Times Intelligent signed a letter of intent for key technology cooperation on the new generation platform, and the two sides plan to carry out in-depth cooperation on the CIIC skateboard chassis project of the next-generation pure electric platform, and create products based on scenario definition of automobiles, intelligence and personalization.
In recent years, BAIC Group has strengthened its layout around the two main technical routes of new energy and intelligent networking, and the signing of this strategic agreement means that BAIC Group will further enhance and strengthen its competitive advantage and brand competitiveness in the new energy vehicle market.
Zhang Jianyong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of BAIC Group, and Zeng Yuqun, Chairman and CEO of CATL, attended the signing ceremony
The rapid evolution of new energy and intelligent networking has promoted the upgrading of the global automotive industry, and the promotion of disruptive and cutting-edge technologies is particularly important to overcome key core technologies. As the main battlefield of BAIC Group's technology research and development, BAIC Research Institute occupies an important strategic position in the development of BAIC Group.
In the context of BAIC Group's concentrated sprint to new energy and intelligence, what are the main tasks or goals of BAIC Research Institute? In the second half of intelligence, how can BAIC continue its technological advantages in the field of new energy? How can OEMs respond to opportunities and challenges as the wave of smart electronics brings about the evolution of a new ecology of automotive cooperation? Focusing on the above hot topics, AutoWatch had an in-depth dialogue with Wang Lei, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Beijing Automotive Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Long-termism + targeted, to create a distinctive technology brand
"In the face of the industry situation of Jijuan and the rising demand for its own development, it has become a must for BAIC Research Institute to promote the evolution of products to be smarter, more energy-saving and safer, and further strengthen the technical genes." Wang Lei described the role of BAIC Research Institute in the current industry environment.
Wang Lei, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Beijing Automotive Research Institute Co., Ltd
BAIC Research Institute has established a business covering the whole process of vehicle research and development, effectively supporting the research and development of the two major brands and their products of JiHu and Beijing, and has completely independent forward development capabilities, reaching the industry-leading level. In addition to the perfect business organization structure and technology development system, BAIC Research Institute also carries out core technology accumulation and forward-looking technology layout with "long-termism", so as to achieve "targeted" capability advancement.
First of all, the three-electric technology stabilizes the basic disk. In the three-electric business field, which already has mature and positive development capabilities, we will continue to strengthen the basic research of battery cells, focus on breakthroughs in industry hot technologies such as fast-charging lithium iron phosphate, solid-state and sodium electricity, and enhance the independent development capabilities of software based on purchased hardware platforms, so as to ensure the industry-leading nature of future products, and achieve technical parity in 5C fast charging this year, which can reach 15 minutes of charging and a range of 527 kilometers, so that users of models below 200,000 can enjoy a luxury charging experience.
Second, hybrid technology has found a breakthrough point. In the field of hybrid business, it has relatively mature forward development capabilities, established the layout of hybrid technology platforms for off-road vehicles, economic vehicles, and mid-to-high-end models, studied the impact of different technical routes on product cost and performance, vigorously improved thermal efficiency and hybrid integration efficiency, ensured the competitiveness of technical level, and focused on energy saving.
Third, intelligent network technology plays a leading role. Focusing on the core technical capabilities of the intelligent network, we quickly introduced the technical empowerment of large models to seize the opportunity, including the large model of the cockpit to make human-computer interaction more convenient and intelligent. In terms of intelligent driving, we will rapidly promote the BEV (Bird's-Eye View) perception model, helping to enter the stage of rapid evolution from high-speed NOA (autonomous driving navigation) to urban NOA, focusing on being more intelligent.
According to relevant data, BAIC has applied for about 35,000 patents, and the number of patents is at the forefront of the industry, and core technologies such as three electric and hydrogen energy have won the first prize of scientific and technological progress in China's automobile industry for 6 times; It has mastered more than 4,000 enterprise technical standards, and has participated in the compilation of more than 300 national and industry standards, and is the "leader" in the formulation of industry technical standards; It has the world's top test center in the field of electric power and intelligent networking, and the trial production test resources are at the forefront of the industry; In 2024, BAIC's R&D investment is expected to reach 13.21 billion yuan, with a R&D team of more than 8,000 people.
"Regarding science and technology BAIC, we have done a lot and been very practical, but we have said very little, in other words, we have not yet created a high-perception, more distinctive technology brand." Wang Lei said frankly. However, in the past few years, BAIC Research Institute has also been continuously learning to improve its technical brand power, creating five technical labels of "intelligence, energy saving, off-road, safety and health", so that BAIC's products have become a high-recognition technology collection.
Some time ago, the release of the two major technology brands of Beijing and Jihu, and the successful holding of the BAIC Science and Technology Salon, which were highly praised by the industry, are all strong evidence that BAIC Group led the BAIC Research Institute to strive to turn the "invisible" technical advantages into "visible" market advantages.
Core self-research + open integration, win the second half of intelligence
In the first half of electrification, as the first automobile group to enter the new energy market in China, BAIC's accumulation in the field of new energy is obvious to all, and the sales of new energy products for independent passenger cars still account for more than 48.5%, and the proportion of new energy products in the research and development has reached 100%.
For the success of the first half, Wang Lei attributed it to "timely entry" and "rich technical advantages", and it was precisely because of the accurate grasp of timing and technology that BAIC Group took the lead in realizing the "from 0 to 1" of electrification transformation. So, in the second half of intelligence, how does BAIC continue its advantages in the field of new energy? Wang Lei believes that the key lies in core self-research and open cooperation.
Under the new industrial ecology, OEMs are facing development opportunities such as smarter, more energy-saving, and safer automotive products, but also facing many challenges such as increasingly fierce price wars, more personalized needs of the new generation of consumers, and difficulties in maintaining user loyalty.
In order to sprint to the second half of intelligence, according to the plan, BAIC will achieve technological iteration and upgrading by 2025, achieve breakthroughs in key areas by 2027, and invest more than 100 billion yuan in R&D by 2030, ranking among the top in the world in core technologies. In core areas such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, electronic control, electric drive, hybrid, battery, and key technologies for off-road vehicles, we will focus on key research.
In the era of smart cars, the ecological barrier has been broken, and more and more technology companies have penetrated into the industrial chain. In recent years, BAIC Research Institute has continued to deepen cooperation with industry-leading technology companies such as Huawei and Baidu. Taking the cooperation between BAIC and Huawei as an example, the Xiangjie S9, which has been pre-ordered at the end of May and will be delivered in August, is the crystallization of the sincere cooperation between the two parties. According to reports, Xiangjie S9 is equipped with Huawei's high-end intelligent driving system, as the "strongest on the surface" L3 level intelligent driving, no longer relying on high-precision maps, is the first batch of models in the industry to realize the urban NOA function.
The cooperation between BAIC and Huawei and Baidu has been fruitful, but in the eyes of the industry, it has also brought many hidden concerns about the right to speak. In this regard, Wang Lei insisted that "the future competition of the automotive industry must be the competition of ecology and the competition of the industrial chain, and this new cooperation model is the inevitable trend of the development of the industry, and it is also the only way for the intelligent car ecology to mature from establishment to development." ”
From the perspective of the underlying logic, the car company itself is also a technology company, which not only has a strong innovation ability, but also continues to increase the investment in research and development of original technology. In the new era of smart cars, many technology companies have become in-depth partners of car companies from traditional ordinary suppliers, and the issue of discourse should be dialectically viewed, who is more authoritative to listen to whom, who is responsible for the product to listen to whom, but as long as both sides uphold the goal of providing users with better products and experience, this new cooperation model will definitely help to share resources, complement each other's advantages, and ultimately achieve a win-win situation.
"The future will definitely be ecological competition, no company can pat its chest and say, 'We are self-developed in the whole ecology', and no company can confidently say 'we rely on cooperation to build an ecology', and it is necessary to 'self-research + cooperation' two-pronged." Wang Lei introduced that BAIC Research Institute adheres to the platform technology development strategy of "self-developed main line + other resource branch line" to ensure that the core technology is full-stack controllable, but in the emerging rapid development fields such as high-end intelligent driving, AI large models, solid-state batteries and other intelligent and electrified core technologies, BAIC has adopted the route of both self-research and cooperation, taking into account the advantages of each company, and bringing users more choices and better experience with cost-effective advanced technology.
Grasp the main line of AI and lead the trend
The development of technologies such as AI, ChatGPT, and large models has brought huge opportunities to the smart car industry, which is a common recognition in the industry, but often opportunities and challenges coexist. The prevalence of the concept of new automobiles and the rapid iteration of new technologies have further intensified the urgency of rapid transformation, and the whole automotive industry chain of the mainland is developing rapidly, but from an objective point of view, in terms of artificial intelligence, especially in terms of large models and large computing power chips, there is still a significant gap between the mainland and developed countries in Europe and the United States.
"We must pay more attention to the innovation of large model application scenarios and business models, realize the sustainable development of large models, and work with all Chinese car companies to achieve corner overtaking on new tracks." Wang Lei analyzed.
In Wang Lei's view, it is necessary to firmly grasp the technical main line of "AI (artificial intelligence) agent", realize the "from 1 to ∞" of intelligent products, dig deep into AI models, computing power integration, and data closed-loop intelligent technology, and create a "big housekeeper" of the whole vehicle of "AI intelligent third space". Transforming the car from a simple means of transportation to an emotional and intelligent "AI agent".
In the face of the new trend, each car company has its own unique methodology, Wang Lei introduced that BAIC Research Institute has always adhered to innovation-driven, actively embraced new technologies with a "completely open" attitude, and maintained a moderate rhythm and strategy: in the field of modeling design, intelligent network software development, content generation scenarios and other user high perception fields, the introduction of large model applications; In the new generation of products, it is successively equipped with AI large model technology, a high-end intelligent driving system based on BEV perception technology, and an electronic and electrical architecture platform of the central computing center, seizing the opportunity to fight the "time difference war" and promoting the transformation of technological advantages into market advantages.
By building a large-scale model hub platform, integrating a variety of AI technologies and algorithms, and building a comprehensive and multi-level intelligent cockpit ecosystem, BAIC Research Institute is building an AI-empowered "vehicle intelligent body" cockpit to accelerate the development of next-generation intelligent driving algorithms. According to reports, the AI-empowered BAIC "vehicle intelligent body" cockpit bids farewell to the mechanical, fixed instruction-based "human-machine" Q&A mode, realizes flexible and customized "everyone" intelligent interaction, and provides users with a more intelligent and real interactive experience. At the same time, it can fully establish a "large model" of vehicle use scene data, use the AIGC (generative artificial intelligence) capability of the large model, intelligently dispatch vehicle-end services and cloud resources, and provide scenario-specific services and experiences according to user habits and preferences.
Looking forward to the future, Wang Lei predicts that the development and launch of technologies such as high-end intelligent driving, AI large models, and centralized electronic and electrical architecture will become a new wave of popular trends.
First of all, urban NOA navigation assisted driving, which does not rely on high-precision maps, has become the mainstream, providing consumers with a more convenient and safer driving experience.
Secondly, AI large models have been widely used in the field of automotive intelligence, providing vehicles with powerful data processing capabilities, scenario demand analysis capabilities, and service generation capabilities, so that vehicles can better understand the driving environment and user needs.
Third, with the continuous development of automotive electronic and electrical systems, the central computing center architecture will become the mainstream trend, integrating multiple electronic control units of the vehicle into a central computing center to achieve efficient data processing and collaborative work.
"The new trend has opened a new door for traditional car companies, and how to use these new trends to create new possibilities in the new world, BAIC Research Institute has been fully prepared." Wang Lei said.
In terms of technology, BAIC Research Institute will not only keep up with the trend to attract new users, but also be responsible for taking care of old users, regularly and timely promote OTA upgrades of mass-produced products, accelerate the intelligent cockpit AI large model, and high-end intelligent driving technology based on BEV perception technology on new products, etc., some of which have been applied to models such as ARCFOX Alpha S5 and Xiangjie S9 that have been launched this year, and will take the lead in bringing users a new experience of the most cutting-edge intelligent technology.
In terms of the system, the integrated channel of experience evaluation will be smoothed, and a pre-experience evaluation system will be built to evaluate and optimize at all stages of the product life cycle.
In terms of quality, in every visible and invisible place, BAIC will show the greatest sincerity and make solid efforts, and probe the quality and experience of higher-end products to the mid-to-high-end and mid-end products that are generally more acceptable to users, so as to achieve technological empowerment and quality equality.