China’s GAC said on Mar. 7 it will be among the first automakers selling vehicles this year with a Level 3 automated driving system, technology that enables the car to do all the driving, albeit with a driver required in the vehicle at all times to resume control if needed.
The announcement (in Chinese) was made as the state-owned manufacturer unveiled a new electric vehicle marque under its Trumpchi brand called Xiangwang in pinyin, saying Huawei’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) will be available to all of its models in the future. GAC and Huawei added they will deploy the Level 3 conditionally automated driving system for the roll-out of the Xiangwang 1 Concept coupe-style sedan, without revealing further details.
The launch of the Xiangwang lineup is the latest step by GAC, a long-time Chinese partner of Toyota and Honda, in navigating a competitive landscape, as rivals such as BYD cut prices and sell new models with smart driving technologies. BYD announced last month that all of its upcoming models will feature its proprietary assisted driving system at no extra cost to the consumer, a move followed quickly by Geely last week.
The first model of the Xiangwang sub-brand, the S7 family-oriented sports utility vehicle, went on pre-sale on the same day as the announcement with Huawei, at an aggressive price range of between RMB 209,800 and RMB 249,800 ($28,910-$34,422) which is lower than expected. By comparison, Li Auto’s L6, as well as the Aito M5, another EV brand featuring Huawei’s in-car technologies, are priced from RMB 248,800 and RMB 238,000, respectively.
The five-meter-long hybrid crossover, which in a sign of the market’s competitiveness GAC said would ordinarily be priced at more than RMB 300,000, has a driving range of 1,020 kilometers (634 miles) on a full charge and full tank of gas. It also comes with luxurious features such as an information and entertainment system that integrates Dolby Atmos as well as a proprietary ADAS said to be similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system.
GAC said its system is powered by NVIDIA’s current-generation autonomous driving processors and supported by a variety of sensors including 11 cameras and a lidar component, making it capable of completing driving tasks on city streets such as handling lane changes and acceleration. The automaker added that DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence models will soon be available to the owners of the Xiangwang lineup via over-the-air updates, joining a growing list of automakers embracing the China-developed AI model.
Other vehicles in the lineup include the M8, a premium multi-purpose van, as well as the full-size SUV S9, set to be rolled out later this year. Meanwhile, GAC and Huawei have been jointly developing a new EV brand with the first model targeting a price range of RMB 300,000 and above. The automaker reported sales of 2 million vehicles last year, of which more than 20% were Trumpchi-branded cars, and is aiming for an annual sales growth of 15% for this year.
READ MORE: Chinese companies take on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving with non-lidar approach, end-to-end AI
