From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 173 China's First Customized High-Precision Map, Traffic Light Countdown Algorithm
An even more challenging task?!
Upon hearing this, Wang Yuchun, Mark, and the others were taken aback.

"We've solved the issue of smoothness in our car's infotainment system, so it's time to take it a step further. Let me ask you a question first..."

What do you consider to be a technologically advanced in-car infotainment system?

Xu Yi asked.

"This one……"

The group hesitated for a moment, unable to answer, as there was simply too much to say about the topic of technology.

"Technology is convenience, and convenience is technology!"

Xu Yi also spoke directly.

"Any technology that can help people be lazy is useful. However, our vehicle's chip has limited computing power, so there isn't much room for development in this generation. Therefore, we need to make the functions that can be realized as perfect as possible."

—Take navigation, for example.

Wang Yuchun: "You mean you want to continue optimizing the navigation smoothness?"

This isn't difficult, but the cost of optimization is higher between "very smooth" and "extremely smooth," and consumers probably won't perceive much difference.

"I'm talking about more reliable high-precision map road data, and using self-developed algorithms to implement the traffic light countdown function!"

Xu Yi shook his head.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eardrums were jolted!
"I talked with the CEO of Gaode last time. We signed an exclusive agreement based on our installation volume, and both parties will further open up road data collection to each other to develop the first traffic light countdown recognition and prompt function in China."

With this feature, drivers can save a lot of energy when navigating intersections and areas with numerous traffic lights, avoiding running red lights and being distracted. It's truly a practical technology for road driving.

...

The group thought Xu Yi was going to talk about some particularly "high-end" function, but that wasn't the case.

What he was referring to was precisely a basic navigation function that was released a few years later.

However, this feature is not so easy to implement nowadays.

Even Gaode and Baidu are still in their infancy.

Current road navigation is still at the level of using high-precision data to calculate congestion and thus achieve efficient passage.

As for collecting traffic light data nationwide, calculating and embedding it into high-precision maps and mobile phone/car navigation systems, that's something for several years from now.

However, this feature can significantly improve the driving experience when passing through traffic light intersections.

Everyone who has used it says it's great.

As high-precision data is continuously optimized, it can become increasingly accurate.

This seemingly simple function.

It's actually a bit complicated to implement.

First, we have established in-depth connections with municipal transportation departments to obtain data on traffic lights on various road sections.

However, the most Xingchen can do is obtain it from the mountain peaks; it would be very difficult to get such support from other places.

Furthermore, there is another problem: we are no longer in the "era of intelligent transportation".

Most traffic lights are simply microcontrollers running pre-programmed instructions; they don't have any network interfaces. In other words, even if you ask the traffic management department, they don't actually know the actual status of each traffic light.

In other words, traffic lights with network interfaces can perhaps cooperate with municipal traffic management departments, but for the remaining traffic light intersections, they will have to take the route of collecting data in hard data, plus data updated by users' daily travel, and use algorithms to calculate the accurate traffic light countdown.

Things will get better when smart traffic lights become more widespread in the next few years and all have IoT modules.

However, most municipal traffic management departments are not willing to hand over their data to private companies, unless it is a deep local cooperation.

Therefore, to achieve this, it still largely relies on algorithms.

“Our internal user data center has been established, and it can now collect traffic light data at user intersections. Combined with the multi-mode positioning data (GPS + Beidou + RTK) from the vehicle's infotainment system, and by connecting with the municipal traffic data from Shandong, we can develop a basic recognition algorithm.”

We will then collaborate with Gaode Maps' real-time traffic data API to develop data layer algorithms.

By combining the databases and teams of both parties, they developed the first navigation traffic light countdown function in China.

...

Xu Yi explained his plan.

"The basic algorithm is unique to our vehicle system, while the data layer algorithm is a joint patent of both parties."

This allows us to create a super car navigation system through in-depth customization.

Because of the access to deeper, more precise data, our in-car navigation system will be more accurate than other navigation systems on the market. It also has an exclusive function for precise traffic light countdown. Further development will include more intelligent navigation algorithms and congestion avoidance features, etc.

We've made our in-car navigation experience the best in China!

-

Many people who drive gasoline cars have said that.

It's a car infotainment system.

Why make it so complicated?
All I need is a navigation function!
I don't know.

There are also differences in the quality of navigation functions.

The difference between a good navigation system and a bad one can be worlds apart.

Take the old navigation systems as an example. It's not just that they're not smooth. Sometimes, the routes set based on the navigation location often result in detours and inefficient routes.

Otherwise, many gasoline-powered cars and luxury cars wouldn't go to the 4S store specifically to update their map packs.

Advanced navigation functions require real-time access to big data APIs to calculate the optimal route. They can even guide you through back alleys and less-traveled rural roads as long as data is collected.

Not to mention it also has features like "congestion alerts, optimal routes, and traffic light countdowns".

This includes navigation apps used by food delivery drivers.

Each of them has its own unique algorithm to calculate an optimal route for running a single route.

This is what it truly means for technology to change lives!

What Xingchen Automotive is trying to do now is to become the "number one navigation system" in the in-vehicle infotainment industry.

He doesn't care how accurate the navigation on other people's cars is, but the navigation on his own car's system must be more accurate and easier to use than on his phone.

Otherwise, wouldn't the whole car infotainment system have been installed for nothing?!

As for in-vehicle connectivity and other fancy features, that's for the next generation of cars.

Currently, the computing power of domestically produced chips on the Starry Sky S7 is actually quite challenging to develop.

It would be better to continue refining a single function.

"Yes, Mr. Xu mentioned this to me last time. Through in-depth cooperation with third-party manufacturers, there is still a lot of room for improvement in our navigation system." Zhao Yang nodded and then announced. As the department head, he had naturally liaised with Gaode. Now that the 1.1 version of the in-vehicle system has completed internal testing, it is time to move on to the development of the next version.

The good news is that the next version will only need to focus on developing the navigation feature.

The bad news is that the workload for just the traffic light algorithm and data collection has exceeded the limit!

In an instant, everyone put on their masks of pain again!

-

"We will first collect local data, and then gradually cover first- and second-tier cities with a large number of users, and even more areas. Collecting enough road data at this stage will also help our next stage of intelligent driving development."

Xu Yi chuckled.

Since we are developing large-scale algorithms for autonomous driving, collecting road data is essential.

Although the high-precision map intelligent driving solution was proven to be too costly and unfeasible in the past, it did not mean that training the algorithm model did not require high-precision map data.

This is a huge amount of work. Now, by further cooperating with Gaode to share data, we can save time in the next step as well.

"Indeed, many car infotainment systems are just for show these days. If the smoothness is comparable to CarPlay, but the user still has to use their phone for navigation, it's obviously a distraction in terms of efficiency and attention!"

Wang Yuchun suddenly realized.

Many people don't even realize that they still need to use a phone holder for navigation even though they already have in-car navigation systems. This shows that in-car navigation systems actually have major problems with efficiency and accuracy.

Their optimization of the vehicle infotainment system doesn't generate any profit.

The goal is to prioritize what users perceive as advanced, user-friendly, and smooth.

If conditions permit in the future, we can realize the great era of "intelligent cockpit interconnection" that Mr. Xu mentioned.

If you add a bunch of fancy features but can't even do a simple navigation function well, how can you call that advanced?

After a brief, impromptu meeting.

The software department quickly reached a consensus.

……

The last week of April.

The Shanghai Auto Show has officially begun.

this day.

At the Shanghai Industrial Exhibition Center, crowds thronged the area outside the venue and in the parking lot, including media representatives, celebrities, industry leaders, and government officials.

Xu Yi and his executive team arrived at the Shanghai hotel by plane a day in advance.

The next day, I drove a Star S7 through the special channel into the venue and was greeted by the same bustling crowd.

But unlike the last auto show.

As soon as he got out of the car on this media day, flashes of light started going off around him taking pictures, and two reporters even tried to come up and interview him.

"Mr. Xu!"

"Mr. Xu from Xingchen Motors is here..."

...

The strong rise of Xingchen Motors is an unavoidable topic in the new energy vehicle industry this year.

Even though the crowds weren't huge on Media Day, there were still quite a few reporters interested in Xu Yi.

But they were quickly stopped by employees who got out of the car.

Xu Yi entered the exhibition hall in this atmosphere.

Xingchen Automotive's booth was in the new energy vehicle zone, some distance from the entrance of the first exhibition hall. There were many industry professionals inside the hall, including supply chain executives and CEOs of car companies with their teams. Xu Yi knew some of them, and others he didn't.

Xu Yi, along with his assistant Xiao Zhou, Sun Pengfei, Yu Nian, Zheng Tie, and others, followed the crowd and strolled around the booth, looking at everything. Joint venture models still occupied half of the space, not to mention the luxury supercar zone in front.

Almost none of them are domestically produced cars.

wrong.

There is one, namely the NIO EP9, which was just released at the end of last year and set the Nürburgring record, although it is only the fastest lap record for an electric vehicle.

A group of media people were standing there taking pictures, and Xu Yi slowly walked over.

In his previous life, he had only seen this car online, but now he had actually seen it in person. Whether it was the wind resistance design, the appearance, or the power configuration, it could be called a model of powerful and powerful vehicles.

"Mr. Xu, this can be considered the first mass-produced electric supercar in China, right?" Yu Nian couldn't help but exclaim when he saw Xu stop to observe.

As new energy vehicle companies, each has a different money-burning model. Some start from the low end and move to the high end, while others start from the high end and move to the low end.

"Strictly speaking, it is a domestically produced electric supercar manufactured abroad. If we add more qualifiers, it can be considered the first of its kind in China."

Unfortunately, despite its high horsepower, its lap times are significantly inferior to other gasoline-powered supercars and race cars.

Xu Yi commented.

That's very objective.

Given China's current industrial capabilities, it would be impossible to create this thing without hiring a foreign team.

It's a stretch to call it mass production, but they have indeed started mass production.

Although not much...

It can be said that the EP9 is a product of simply burning money and piling on resources.

"Is Mr. Xu interested in EP9?"

"Not really, just looking. If I could sit on it and step on it, that would be really exciting, after all, it has 1480Nm of horsepower, one step and it would fly up!"

"Actually, we at ep9 are looking for high-quality clients."

...

Suddenly, someone came over from the side.

He even exchanged a couple of words with Xu Yi.

When the other person said the second sentence, Xu Yi immediately realized that it was not his own executive speaking. He couldn't help but ask back, but as soon as he turned around, he saw a face.

"Uh—you are."

"I am Li Bin from NIO."

"..."

(End of this chapter)