Audi’s new A5 sedan and all-electric Q6 e-tron crossover will be the company’s first models to use Huawei’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), enabling the cars to change lanes and overtake autonomously in Chinese cities, local media has reported.
Why it matters: The news marks the latest development in a six-year collaboration between Audi and Huawei. The companies announced in mid-2018 that they had signed an agreement to develop a level 4 autonomous driving system that could take complete control of a vehicle without human intervention in Chinese urban traffic environments.
- Audi had been planning to incorporate Huawei’s autonomous driving technologies in future China-made models scheduled for launch in 2025 and had been asked to buy small stakes in Huawei’s intelligent vehicle software and components firm, Reuters reported in December.
Details: The new A5 sedan, the first model that utilizes Audi’s last new internal-combustion architecture called Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), is expected to make its China debut at this year’s Guangzhou Auto Show in the capital of Guangdong province in November. That’s according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Chinese media outlet iYiou.
- Sources added that the hatchback-style sedan, which replaces the A4 model in the German firm’s vehicle lineup, will also incorporate Huawei components such as electronic control units, and is intended to be launched at the Auto Shanghai Show 2025 next April. The A5 will be manufactured by Audi and FAW Group, one of its Chinese partners.
- Meanwhile, there has been speculation that the Q6 e-tron, Audi’s first car to use Volkswagen’s advanced premium platform electric (PPE) platform, will also use Huawei’s ADAS. Meanwhile, Audi is working with Chinese self-driving car startup Momenta on automated driving for a separate new series which has been under development with SAIC, the German firm’s other local manufacturing partner, the report said.
Context: Volkswagen’s Audi is not the only international car major open to teaming up with Huawei. Toyota has reportedly agreed to buy Huawei’s autonomous driving stack for its China-made electric vehicles, while a growing number of Chinese car manufacturers are expanding their collaborations with the tech giant. Huawei has estimated that around 500,000 cars equipped with its tech will be on the roads by year-end, Reuters reported.
- Huawei is gaining traction thanks to growing customer demand for intelligent driving functionalities in the world’s largest auto market. One company executive said last week that the latest Advanced Driving System (ADS) offers Chinese users better safety in a point-to-point autonomous experience than Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, as TechNode reported.
- Audi reported sales of more than 320,000 luxury cars in China for the first half of this year, falling slightly by 1.9% from the previous year and lower than the total sales of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The German luxury carmaker has been planning a series of measures to defend its market share as domestic rivals such as Li Auto and NIO are on the rise, including buying EV technologies from SAIC and designing a new logo for future vehicles, reported Reuters.
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