Transformation of the automotive industry: OEMs face competitive pressure and explore redefinition

The continuous advancement of technology is bringing unprecedented pressure to change and redefine the automotive industry. This is the news on May 23. Many stakeholders have come together to try to give a new meaning to this means of transportation that has existed for more than a hundred years.

Traditional OEMs are feeling the pressure from Tesla and China’s new car-making forces. They are getting rid of the shackles of internal combustion engines by promoting the concept of "software-defined cars". This has brought increasing competitive pressure to established manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen. They are worried that they will be eliminated from the market due to untimely transformation, so they are looking for ways to redefine their automotive products.

At the same time, Internet technology giants Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba are also launching solutions in their own ways, trying to persuade OEMs to seek help in building competitive cars in the new era. Tencent believes that OEMs need to take advantage of its powerful cloud service capabilities, while Baidu firmly believes that it has unique advantages in the field of autonomous driving.

Mobile phones and automobiles, two industries that were originally not closely related, are becoming increasingly integrated. New electronic and electrical architectures are gradually replacing traditional distributed architectures, the automotive industry chain is highly integrated, and engines and transmissions are gradually disappearing. This has lowered the threshold for automobile manufacturing and enabled automobile production to be customized and assembled like mobile phones.

An automotive practitioner said: "In this case, the user's perception of the driving experience largely depends on the richness of the car's functions and the smoothness of the human-computer interaction. Therefore, the car Manufacturing has become an area of ​​competition for user experience, and mobile phone companies have unique advantages in this regard.

In the mobile phone industry, Huawei and Xiaomi are the two companies that have shown the greatest interest in cars.

According to ITBEAR Technology Information, Huawei entered the automotive industry in 2019, announced that it would become an incremental component supplier for intelligent connected vehicles, and launched the "HUAWEI "Inside" mode. This model requires car manufacturers to lead the design, and Huawei provides a complete set of solutions such as in-vehicle operating systems and self-developed in-vehicle computing chips. However, this model has not brought significant sales growth to the OEMs, and the number of actual cooperation car companies is limited. .

Subsequently, Huawei launched a smart car model, which is designed by automobile manufacturers. Huawei provides a full set of solutions and allows automobile companies to sell cars through Huawei’s terminal channels. In this model, cooperation with Huawei is the most typical It is Cyrus (Xiaokang Co., Ltd.). They launched the Cyrus Huawei Smart Selection SF5 equipped with Hongmeng Smart Cockpit. This car sold a total of 70,000 units in 2022, which shows the potential of the smart car model.

The difference between Xiaomi and Huawei is that Xiaomi has adopted a wholly-owned model and established a wholly-owned subsidiary to focus on the smart electric vehicle business. Xiaomi will invest a large amount of money and rely on the support of its mobile phone ecological chain to strive Success in the field of smart electric vehicles. Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, revealed that Xiaomi has completed winter testing and plans to start mass production in the first half of 2024.

Traditional OEMs are facing the dilemma of transformation. They must adapt to inherent institutional and cultural constraints and lack experience with overall software systems. However, they also find it difficult to accept that the core architecture of automotive electronics is left under the control of an outside company. Mobile phone companies have an opportunity to help because they need outsiders. Support.

However, the integration of mobile phones and automobiles is not smooth sailing. The mobile phone industry is facing a downward trend, and the window period for the automobile industry is shrinking. To gain a foothold in the fiercely competitive market, Huawei and Xiaomi, etc. The company's success in the automotive field will be crucial. Automobile companies face multiple challenges in body design, manufacturing, safety, industrial design, etc.

The integration of mobile phones and the automotive industry continues , and the battle for the ownership of the car’s soul is far from over.

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