"Car News Weekly": Volkswagen Group invests $700 million in XPeng, sending XPeng Motors' U.S.-listed shares surging over 40% during trading; Starting at just 249,800 yuan! AITO M5 Standard Edition's official price has been unveiled!

"Car News Weekly": Volkswagen Group Invests $700 Million in XPeng, Sending XPeng Motors' U.S. stock soaring over 40% during trading; Starting at just $249,800! AITO M5 Standard Edition Officially Unveiled with Pricing Details!

Car News Weekly

 

The special channel provides you with authoritative, comprehensive, timely, and compelling in-depth coverage, meticulously outlining the latest developments and key news stories in the automotive industry—spanning topics like autonomous driving, automaker updates, and artificial intelligence.

 

Two ministries release the "Guidance on Building the National Connected Vehicle Industry Standard System (Intelligent Connected Vehicles)."

 

 

On July 26, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Standardization Administration Committee jointly released the "Guidance on Building the National Connected Vehicle Industry Standard System (Intelligent Connected Vehicles) (2023 Edition)." Regarding the construction phases and objectives, the Guidance clearly states: Based on the current state of intelligent connected vehicle technology, industry needs, and future development trends, an adaptive standard system for intelligent connected vehicles—suited to China's national conditions and aligned with international practices—will be established in stages.

 

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will further advance the development of a smart connected vehicle standards system, continuing to guide the SAC/TC114/SC34 Subcommittee on Intelligent Connected Vehicles under the National Automobile Standardization Committee, as well as relevant organizations, to intensify efforts in key areas such as functional safety, cybersecurity, and operating systems. The ministry will also accelerate the integrated development of new-energy vehicles with information communication, intelligent transportation, and smart city initiatives. By leveraging standards as a guiding force, it aims to drive high-quality growth in China’s smart connected vehicle industry.

 

The EU Council approves the €43 billion Chips Act.

 

On July 25 local time, the European Council issued a statement announcing that it had approved the regulations aimed at strengthening Europe's ecosystem—the EU Chips Act.

 

With approval already granted by the two major legislative bodies and following signatures from the President of the European Parliament and the President of the EU Council, the European Chips Act will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force three days after publication.

 

 

Europe's share of chip production has declined from 24% in 2000 to about 10% today, while the European Chips Act aims to boost this figure to 20% by 2030.

 

Weekly Retail Trends of the National Passenger Vehicle Market in the Fourth Week of July

 

In the 4th week of July 2023 (July 17–23), new energy vehicle sales reached 146,000 units, representing a 40% year-on-year increase and a 6% rise from the previous week. This week, BYD continued to lead with over 45,000 vehicles sold, though its market share declined by 0.7 percentage points compared to last week.

 

 

In the new EV brands segment, Li Auto achieved weekly sales of 7,800 vehicles this week, firmly maintaining its position as the top-selling Chinese new-energy brand. As of July 23, Li Auto’s monthly sales have already reached 24,600 units, continuing to lead the pack among new EV brands.

 

Starting from 249,800! The official price of the AITO M5 Standard Edition has been announced!

 

AITO officially announced the official price and benefits of the standard version of the AITO M5 on July 25. The highly reliable, intelligent-performance SUV from the AITO M5 series has been further upgraded, offering consumers an enhanced design, longer-lasting range, a smarter experience, and even stronger performance.

 

 

In terms of intelligent driving features, the AITO M5 Intelligent Driving Edition is equipped with Huawei's advanced HUAWEI ADS 2.0 system, which includes 1 roof-mounted LiDAR, 3 millimeter-wave radars, 11 high-definition cameras, and 12 ultrasonic radars. The front-facing binocular camera boasts a resolution as high as 800W pixels, while the millimeter-wave radar incorporates cutting-edge glass antenna technology and is fitted with 4 MIMO antennas.

 

General Motors' New Patent Enables More Efficient Interaction Between Self-Driving Cars and Nearby Vehicles

 

According to foreign media reports, General Motors has found a way to make self-driving cars more human-like when surrounded by "conventional" drivers.

 

 

General Motors has applied for a patent titled "Notifications from an Autonomous Vehicle to a Driver," which outlines a method that enables self-driving cars to communicate with other drivers on the road in a more conventional—though next-generation—way.

 

General Motors stated that self-driving cars can allow vehicles with right-of-way to proceed first, but since other drivers can’t see the hand signals (such as when a driver gestures behind the steering wheel), the entire process ends up wasting time. Therefore, sending notifications is the solution to this dilemma.

 

XPeng Motors surges more than 40% in U.S. stock trading after Volkswagen Group invests $700 million.

 

On the evening of July 26, Volkswagen Group announced that the Volkswagen brand has reached a technical framework agreement with XPeng Motors. In the initial phase of their collaboration, the two companies plan to jointly develop two electric models under the Volkswagen brand, targeting China's mid-size car market.

 

These two new vehicles, exclusive to the Chinese market, will complement the product lineup based on the MEB platform and are scheduled to hit the market in 2026. The specifics of the collaboration will depend on the final agreement being reached.

 

 

As part of this collaboration, the Volkswagen Group will inject approximately $700 million into XPeng Motors, acquiring about 4.99% of XPeng’s equity at a price of $15 per ADS (American Depositary Share), with each ADS representing two shares of Class A common stock.

 

After the transaction is completed, the Volkswagen Group will secure an observer seat on XPeng Motors’ board of directors. The share issuance will be contingent upon the fulfillment of customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals.

 

Li Auto achieved weekly sales of 7,800 units, firmly maintaining its position as the top-selling new-energy vehicle brand in China.

 

According to Li Auto's official Weibo account on July 25, during the recently concluded 30th week of 2023 (July 17–23), Li Auto achieved weekly sales of 7,800 vehicles, firmly securing its position as the top-selling brand among China's new EV manufacturers. As of July 23, Li Auto's monthly sales have already reached 24,600 units, continuing to lead the pack among new EV brands.

 

 

Meanwhile, the patent application titled "Sleep Assistance System and Vehicle," filed by Beijing Chehejia Information Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Li Auto, has been granted.

 

This sleep assistance system includes a camera, a central controller, a seat controller, and an intelligent cabin controller. The camera captures video footage of the occupant seated in the chair, while the central controller receives the video data and analyzes it to determine whether the occupant is showing signs of drowsiness. If drowsiness is detected, the system automatically sends signals to adjust the seat position or modify the audio/video settings—such as tweaking the music or video being played through the vehicle’s infotainment system—to help the occupant relax and fall asleep more easily. The sleep assistance system and vehicle design described in this application are simple yet effective, providing practical support to help occupants drift off to sleep.

 

Huawei: Pangu Large Model Powers Autonomous Driving, Accelerating Mass Production Pace

 

Recently, the Huawei Cloud Intelligent Driving Innovation Summit was held grandly. At the event, You Peng, Director of Huawei Cloud EI Service Products, delivered a keynote speech titled "Pangu Large Model Empowers Autonomous Driving, Accelerating Mass Production."

 

 

Huawei Cloud has already applied the generative capabilities of the Pangu large model to multiple autonomous driving projects, helping customers build their own customized large-scale autonomous driving models. Huawei Cloud has also assisted customers developing autonomous driving algorithms in progressively creating large models for scenario generation, scenario understanding, pre-annotation, and multimodal retrieval, significantly boosting these companies' data processing efficiency.

 

To address the challenge of accumulating corner cases from real-world data—a process that is both difficult and costly—Pangu Large Model integrates NeRF technology to reconstruct videos captured at different moments into 3D space. By editing elements such as driving routes, lighting, textures, and vehicles within this 3D space, the model can generate entirely new corner-case scenarios, significantly reducing the cost and complexity of data collection. Huawei Cloud’s self-developed NeRF algorithm currently ranks first on the prestigious international KITTI-360 benchmark, delivering industry-leading image quality and rendering speed.

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