Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance

Not to be confused with Haima Automobile.
This article is about is about an alliance that enables partners to use HarmonyOS operating system on Cockpit platform tailored for cars. For the application intended for using an HarmonyOS device in a vehicle, see Huawei HiCar.
Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance
Product typeAutomotive
OwnerHuawei
CountryChina
IntroducedNovember 2023; 1 year ago (2023-11)
Related brands
MarketsChina
Websitehima.auto

Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, trading as HIMA (Chinese: 鸿蒙智行; pinyin: Hóngméng Zhìxíng) is an automotive alliance initiated and led by Chinese multinational technology company Huawei. Established in 2023, the members of the alliance include AITO (Seres Group), Luxeed (Chery), Stelato (BAIC BluePark), and Maextro (JAC Group).[1][2]

Under HIMA, Huawei contributes in product planning, design, marketing, user experience, quality control and provides intelligent vehicle software and hardware for the traditional automobile manufacturers. Currently, HIMA only operates in mainland China.

History

In December 2021, Huawei announced the launch of AITO brand and unveiled its first vehicle AITO M5, the first vehicle Huawei developed with Seres Group. The model is based on Seres SF5 SUV.[3]

In June 2023, Huawei acquired the AITO trademark in Chinese language (问界/Wenjie) from Seres Group.[4]

In November 2023, Huawei announced the foundation of Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance during the introduction of the Luxeed S7, the first model developed under collaboration with Chery.[1]

In December 2023, Huawei has transferred multiple trademarks called "Stelato" to BAIC BluePark, the HIMA brand Huawei collaborates with BAIC.[5][6]

In July 2024, Yu Chendong, the Chairman of the Huawei Intelligent Automotive Solutions, revealed in an interview that the fourth brand of HIMA which collaborates with JAC would be named as Zunjie (尊界) in Chinese.[7] In August 2024, at the Stelato S9 and Huawei new product launch conference, Huawei officially announced the fourth brand of HIMA collaborated with JAC, the Maextro (Chinese: 尊界). The first vehicle of Maextro is scheduled to roll off the production line by the end of 2024 and would be launched in the first half of 2025.[8]

Operations

A Huawei store in Shenzhen displaying the AITO M5 alongside its electronic products
Three HIMA vehicles at a Huawei charging station

Huawei will not directly manufacture cars, but is dedicated to helping car companies sell their vehicles through product design, supply chain management, quality control, software ecosystem, user experience management, brand marketing, and sales channels.[9][10] Under the alliance, each of Huawei's partner manufacturers will specialize in a certain vehicle category and class. Each manufacturer's product lineup will be non-overlapping, and all will be combined under Huawei's comprehensive solution.[10]

Huawei has been establishing independent HIMA stores in the Chinese market. Huawei planned to have around 800 newly built HIMA stores by 2024, and plans to expand to 1,000 stores by 2025. By 2023, HIMA had already opened franchise outlets ("user centers") in 78 cities nationwide. These outlets provide integrated services, including sales, delivery, and after-sales support, embodying a one-stop-shop approach. One of the criteria for selecting partners is a preference for those with expertise in luxury car sales and maintenance (both mechanical and paint). In addition to opening new franchise user centers, the existing outlets were rebranded from "AITO" to "HIMA" as the outlets started offering Luxeed, Stelato and Maextro vehicles.[11]

Technology

HarmonyOS Cockpit

The HarmonyOS Cockpit is Huawei's solution for electric and autonomous cars powered by its Kirin line of a system-on-chip (SoC), augmented reality head-up displays (AR-HUD) and smart instrument cluster. Huawei opened up the APIs of HarmonyOS Cockpit to help automobile OEMs, suppliers and ecosystem partners in developing different features.[12][13]

Autonomous Driving System

AITO vehicles are equipped with ADS (Autonomous Driving System) developed by Huawei. For the current ADS 2.0, it is composite of 128 LiDARs, 11 HD cameras, 3 MMW radars, and 12 ultra sonic radars and Huawei self-developed chipset.

The ADS is trained on real-world driving data and can achieve Level 2+ autonomous driving. It can perform human-like judgment and operation such as accurate turning, giving way to pedestrians, recognizing and avoiding irregular obstacles, as well as detecting and avoiding animals. It can also perform automatic and valet parking.

According to Huawei, the ADS 2.0 was priced at 36,000 RMB (~US$5200) per vehicle when sold to partner manufacturer.[14]

Touling Platform

Huawei Touling platform is equipped with a multi-modal fusion perception system, DATS (Dynamic Adaptive Torque System) and xMotion intelligent body collaborative control system.[15]

Huawei's partnership with automobile manufacturers

Huawei's partnership with automobile manufacturers has taken the form of three models, the standardized parts supply model, the "Huawei Inside" (HI) model, and the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA).[2][16]

Main article: Yinwang
  • Tier 1 — Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), Huawei provides a complete set of vehicle solutions and participates in product definition, design, marketing, user experience, quality control and delivery, while the manufacturers are responsible for vehicle manufacturing.
  • Tier 2 — Huawei Inside (HI), Huawei provide full-stack smart car solution and Huawei's smart cockpit to car manufacturers. In this mode, Huawei empowers vehicle intelligence through the supply of both software and hardware, but does not participate in the design, development, and marketing of the vehicles. Arcfox is currently adopting this model.
  • Tier 2 — Huawei Inside Plus (HI Plus), with Avatr becoming the first company to invest in Yinwang, the Avatr's previous "HI"(Huawei Inside) model has been further upgraded to a new "HI Plus" model, enabling Huawei to get more deeply involved in Avatr's product definition.
  • Tier 3 — Standardized parts supply, Huawei provides automobile parts and components like Lidar, electric motor, cameras and power management to car manufacturers, the most basic model.

Brands

Main article: List of HIMA vehicles

The brands of the alliance include AITO (Seres Group), Luxeed (Chery), Stelato (BAIC BluePark), and Maextro (JAC Motors). Although the Western names of each alliance brand are not closely related, their Chinese names are all named after the Chinese character "界", such as 问界; Wènjiè (AITO), 智界; Zhìjiè (Luxeed), 享界; Xiǎngjiè (Stelato), and 尊界; Zūnjiè (Maextro).

Originally, the ownership rights for the alliance brands' Western and Chinese names were separate. The Western trademarks are owned by the alliance manufacturers, whereas the Chinese trademarks are owned by Huawei.[4][16] However, due to the regulations of Chinese government, that the brand of automobile must be owned by its manufacturer, in July 2024, Huawei announced to transfer the Chinese trademarks and patents of AITO brand to its partner Seres Group.[17][18]

AITO

Main articles: AITO (marque) and Seres Group

AITO (Chinese: 问界; pinyin: Wènjiè) is the brand used for Huawei's collaboration with Seres Group.

Luxeed

Main articles: Luxeed and Chery

Luxeed (Chinese: 智界; pinyin: Zhìjiè) is the brand used for Huawei's collaboration with Chery.

Stelato

Main articles: Stelato and BAIC BluePark

Stelato (Chinese: 享界; pinyin: Xiǎngjiè) brand used for Huawei's collaboration with BAIC BluePark, a subsidiary of BAIC Group.

Maextro

Main articles: Maextro and JAC Group

Maextro (Chinese: 尊界; pinyin: Zūnjiè) brand used for Huawei's collaboration with JAC Group.

Sales

Sales of HIMA brands
Year Total AITO Luxeed Stelato Maextro
2022 76,180 76,180[19] - - -
2023 95,279 94,380[20] 899[21] - -

Since HIMA is not considered as an automobile manufacturer by government of China, the sales figures of each HIMA brand is overlapping with its partner manufacturers.

See also

References

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  11. ^ "华为智选车将为鸿蒙智行推出独立门店:single-爱卡汽车". info.xcar.com.cn. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  12. ^ Li, Deng (2021-10-22). "First HarmonyOS smart car cockpit will launch by the end of this year, check user interface". Huawei Central. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
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  18. ^ Kang, Lei (2024-07-03). "Huawei to transfer Aito trademarks and patents it holds to Seres for $340 million". CnEVPost. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  19. ^ "AITO问界系列12月交付再超1万辆，全年交付76180辆 - 手机中国 -". smartcar.cnmo.com. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  20. ^ "新能源汽车2023年成绩单放榜！". www.stcn.com. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
  21. ^ "智界S7车主做梦也没想到，他们买了个"破车"！_车家号_发现车生活_汽车之家". chejiahao.autohome.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2024-01-10.