- Olga Kokorina
- Translated by Olga Apetenok
- Ru He
Meet China’s smartest car
China’s automotive industry is gigantic, fast-growing and influential, one of the youngest industries involved in mass production. The largest country in Asia hosts the Car of the Year event, whereas a local division of the famous American agency J.D. Power chooses the most reliable cars. Plus, there is another, very unusual ranking determining China’s smartest car! It is created by J.D. Power and Human-Vehicle Relationship Laboratory (HVR Lab). Considering how quickly China’s technologies develop and improve, it is not surprising that Chinese brands took 7 places out of 10. The three remaining places were awarded to the Tesla Model Y, Volkswagen ID.6 X and Cadillac Lyriq, which are also produced in China! The ranking mainly consists of cars of popular startups. Meet the smartest cars in China.
Automotive ‘IQ’
There were two indexes by which four-wheeled contestants were evaluated, both complex and difficult.
- The C-HVR index involves the assessment of the effectiveness of human interaction with the vehicle by experts. The stability of the interactive functions, their ability not to interfere with driving, and the variety of interactive tasks were taken into account.
- The VOC index involves the assessment of the convenience of the interaction of the car with the driver and passengers by ordinary people. They checked the ease of use of ‘smart’ functions, their effectiveness, practicality and beauty. The VOC index also includes the speed of the car’s electronics, the power of the processors used in the systems.
The research of J.D. Power and HVR Lab, covering 60 cars, has shown that China’s smart cars have become more advanced. The models ranked in the top 10 have outperformed all tested participants based the two indices. The experts note that in order to perform tasks via the control screen, the best model needs only 2.5 steps. In addition, the top ten models have a highly efficient lane keeping assist system: the deviation from the set course is, on average, 25% less. Cruise control has also demonstrated excellent results: the set speed is kept 11% better than the average for all models studied in the program.
Chinese ‘wunderkinds’
The top ten smartest cars include 7 cars of Chinese brands, moreover, the majority of which are the creations of start-ups. Four of them are fully electric, two are hybrids and only one is gasoline. There are SUVs, sedans and even one minivan. And, yes, we deliberately do not assign places, because they are all ‘wunderkinds’.
Nio ET7
The Nio ET7 is a large twin-engine sedan, on sale since March 2022. The powertrain produces 653 hp. There are two batteries to choose from: with a capacity of 70 or 100 kWh. One of the fastest cars in the world accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds. The advantages include a surprisingly low drag coefficient of 0.23, air suspension with adaptive dampers, a long list of basic equipment, and even a level 3 autopilot. The car was especially noted for the sensitivity of the NOMI voice assistant, which hears commands even at an ambient noise level of 80 dB. Soon the car will appear in Europe, and, therefore, possibly in Israel.
XPeng G9
The XPeng G9 is a large electric SUV with one or two electric motors and rear or all-wheel drive. From 2023, it will be delivered to Europe. The SUV offers the fastest charging among electric SUVs: thanks to the power of 480 kW, the battery gains a driving range of 200 km in 5 minutes. The driving range is also impressive: it reaches 700 km. The vehicle supports 5G networks, so all systems are quickly and seamlessly updated over the air, including an advanced autonomous driving system. And the G9 was awarded for interaction with the driver using seat vibration and atmospheric lighting.
HiPhi X
The HiPhi X is one of the most expensive vehicles in China, a huge electric SUV, released in 2020, which won the national Car of the Year award. The rear doors have an interesting design with the innovative NT Door system, which does not need either traditional handles or mechanical locks. The X pleases with a level 3 autopilot, programmable matrix optics with light indication and the Human Oriented Architecture (HOA) software platform, consisting of six controllers and 500 sensors. The SUV can be rear or four-wheel drive, producing 299 hp or 598 hp, accelerating from 7.1 or 3.9 seconds. The vehicle won the award not for the maximum speed of 200 km/h, but for the logic of the menu, the use of 3D technologies and ease of integration with screens.
Li Auto L9
The Li Auto L9 is a 5.2 meters long hybrid SUV, driving up to 1,315 km on one tank of gasoline. The vehicle moves due to two electric motors with a total capacity of 450 hp, which are powered by a traction battery with a capacity of 44.5 kWh, and it is charged by a 1.5-liter turbocharged internal combustion engine. The SUV offers an electric driving range of 215 km. The vehicle does not have a traditional dashboard, and it was noted for its ‘smart’ heads-up display.
Seres AITO M5
The AITO M5 SUV was developed by specialists from two companies: Seres and Huawei. Experts note the amazing interaction of the car with Huawei phones, and gave points for the effectiveness of voice control and the smoothness of the screen operation. The car is a plug-in hybrid using the Seres REEV DE-i platform. The car has two electric motors, and a 1.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with a capacity of 125 hp is responsible for recharging the battery on the way. The model is rear or all-wheel drive. The Israeli market offers another Seres, a compact electric 3 EV SUV, which aims to be the leader of the electric vehicle market in our country.
IM L7
SAIC and Alibaba are making an IM L7 premium electric sedan. Introduced in the summer of 2021, it already competes almost on an equal footing with the Tesla Model S, at least due to its dimensions: 5 meters long and almost 2 meters wide. The headlights are matrix, consisting of 5,000 LEDs, which allow not only flexibly changing the shape of the light beam, but also depicting navigation tips for the driver on the roadway. The doors are equipped with electric drives, instead of camera mirrors, there is a level 2 autopilot and a fully controlled chassis with adaptive suspension developed with the participation of specialists from Williams Advanced Engineering. The sedan is noted for voice control and a large number of separate monitors, which display large and perfectly readable fonts.
GAC M8
The only minivan among the participants by GAC Motor, the sixth largest in China. In terms of sales, the GAC M8 ranks third in the segment. The only model in the ranking of models with an internal combustion engine: a 2.0-liter TGDI gasoline engine (252 hp, 390 Nm) is paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission. The maximum speed of the minivan reaches 200 km/h. But it also has a hybrid modification. The experts liked the rich package of entertainment features and the ease of interaction between passengers and equipment. There are no physical keys on the front panel, while all control functions are integrated into a multimedia system with a 14.6-inch screen, running on the Adigo 4.0 operating system.
