Late at night, Yu Chengdong hints that He Xiaopeng doesn’t understand AEB, and the competition among top domestic intelligent driving companies intensifies.
Around AEB technology, two automotive industry “bigwigs” are engaged in a subtle battle.
On the evening of November 3rd, Huawei’s Executive Director, CEO of the Consumer Business Group (BG), and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Intelligent Automotive Solutions Business Unit, Yu Chengdong, posted on WeChat Moments, stating, “Some car company leaders don’t even understand what AEB is.”
Yu Chengdong’s post appears to be a response to He Xiaopeng, the Chairman of Xiaopeng Motors.
A few days earlier, He Xiaopeng, Chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, remarked, “Most people have probably never even encountered AEB. When competitors talk about AEB, I think 99% of it is false.”
Yu Chengdong Speaks Out
Public information indicates that the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system is an electronic system that assists with braking. It uses radar to detect the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle in front and analyzes it through an electronic control unit. Based on the different distances and speeds, it determines the risk of collision and alerts the driver.
According to a research report from China International Capital Corporation (CICC), Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) primarily uses radar to monitor the safe distance to obstacles and activates the braking system when a potential danger arises. The penetration rate of AEB increased from 41.9% at the beginning of 2022 to 56.7% in September 2023.
On the evening of November 3rd, Yu Chengdong stated, “Some people don’t even understand what AEB is! It’s almost like they’re pulling a fast one when they talk about intelligent driving! They lack basic knowledge about industry technology progress and future development!”
Yu Chengdong also mentioned, “Some car companies are busy working on intelligent driving all day, but their AEB active safety test results are very poor. When I inquired, I found out that they haven’t even implemented the basic functionality of AEB, which surprised me greatly! Either they have misled their team, or they lack the most basic understanding of the automotive industry’s development!”
Yu Chengdong emphasized that Huawei’s ADS advanced intelligent driving enhances AEB.
Recently, the sales of the WENJIE New M7, which is equipped with Huawei’s ADS 2.0 advanced intelligent driving system, have been impressive. On November 1st, AITO Automotive reported that they delivered 12,700 new vehicles in October. Among them, the WENJIE New M7 accounted for 10,547 of the deliveries, surpassing ten thousand units in a single month, setting a historical record. The total orders for the WENJIE series reached 57,829 units in October. The cumulative total orders exceeded 80,000 units in just 50 days after its launch. It’s worth noting that the “big order” refers to orders that require a down payment of 5,000 yuan.
He Xiaopeng’s Perspective on AEB
Yu Chengdong’s remarks on WeChat Moments seem to be a response to He Xiaopeng, Chairman of Xiaopeng Motors. On November 1st, an interview article with He Xiaopeng was published by a self-media outlet in the automotive industry. When discussing AEB, He Xiaopeng stated, “First, most people have probably never even encountered AEB. Second, when competitors talk about AEB, I believe 99% of it is false; it’s all fake, and those promotions don’t come from the official company but are from short videos. Our people also inquired and found that their AEB doesn’t work at all, and there are too many cases of accidental braking on the road.”
He Xiaopeng also mentioned that in the industry, the discussion about AEB mainly focuses on longitudinal AEB. When it is triggered, the speed should mostly be within 60 kilometers per hour. If the speed is too high and there’s a mistaken brake activation, it will be a huge scare for the driver, which is simply unacceptable.
He Xiaopeng said, “Our XNGP technology, which stands for Navigation Guided Pilot, will improve AEB as one of its aspects. For example, we have been talking about ‘Static AEB,’ and once there are obstacles around, the vehicle will actively avoid them, making it impossible to collide with them. I believe it’s not right to treat customers as guinea pigs. Some companies dare to do that, but it will come back to haunt them. I’ve been working in the automotive industry for several years, and I’m not inclined to do that. However, we will certainly make AEB better.”
Previously, Xiaopeng Motors explained that NGP stands for Navigation Guided Pilot. In technical terms, XNGP requires users to initiate navigation before activating it, maintaining the approach and logic of navigation-assisted driving.
In October 2023, Xiaopeng Motors delivered a total of 20,002 new vehicles, representing a month-on-month growth of 31% and a year-on-year growth of 292%. Xiaopeng also disclosed the schedule for the deployment of XNGP city intelligent driving technology. According to a report from Huatai Securities International, Xiaopeng’s XNGP functions have already been launched in five cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Foshan), opening up in batches based on user coverage and city clusters.
On October 24th, during the Xiaopeng Motors Technology Day event, He Xiaopeng announced the latest production deployment plan for the XNGP intelligent assisted driving system. The urban navigation-assisted driving feature for areas without high-precision maps would be launched in 20 cities in the first phase and officially entered public testing that night, with plans to expand to 50 cities within the year.
He Xiaopeng also emphasized, “Everyone is starting to pay attention to intelligent driving, which is a very positive thing. But I want to emphasize one specific point: you can’t rush intelligent driving.”