[Global Times reporter Zhao Juejue Global Times special correspondent in Japan and Germany Wang Tianqing Zhaodong] Recently, a piece of news that the cooperation between Japan's Toyota Motor and Huawei's intelligent driving system is in progress triggered widespread discussion an

[Global Times reporter Zhao Juejue Global Times special correspondent in Japan and Germany Wang Tianqing Zhaodong] Recently, a news that the cooperation between Japan's Toyota car and Huawei's intelligent driving system is in progress triggered widespread discussion and speculation. Since the beginning of 2024, Japanese brands that have long performed well in the Chinese auto market have experienced a wave of sales declines and have fallen into a "hard struggle" in the Chinese market. An industry expert told a reporter from the Global Times that Chinese car companies have achieved fruitful results in the field of intelligent driving and are also attracting investment and cooperation from overseas car companies. Foreign car companies' investment in purchasing China's intelligent driving technology has become a new feature of Sino-foreign automobile cooperation.

A Chinese new energy vehicle company displays the control system in its store. (Visual China)

announced on April 25?

Japan’s Yahoo Finance website reported on the 12th that this technology was jointly developed by Toyota, Huawei and Chinese autonomous driving start-up Momenta. Huawei and Momenta provide software and hardware solutions respectively. According to relevant sources, Toyota will announce specific plans at the Beijing International Auto Show that opens on April 25. When a "Global Times" reporter asked Toyota China for confirmation on the 12th, the other party said that there was no latest information to be disclosed.

At Huawei’s Spring Ecological Conference on the 11th, intelligent driving became the focus of much attention. Huawei launched the new smart s7 electric car equipped with smart driving functions, as well as the basic version of huawei ads for visual smart driving. Some analysts say that this is the first case in China where a purely visual solution that does not rely on lidar has been implemented. Huawei's move directly refers to Tesla , the originator of visual smart driving solutions.

In recent years, Toyota has actively cooperated with local Chinese companies in the new energy industry. In 2020, Toyota and BYD established a joint venture company BYD Toyota Electric Vehicle Technology Co., Ltd. The first pure electric product bz3 jointly developed by the two parties has been mass-produced and launched.

Japanese car companies are producing new energy vehicles. (Visual China)

According to Japanese media reports, Toyota and Huawei have established a cooperative relationship in the field of intelligent driving technology. The in-vehicle information system of the ninth-generation Camry model launched by Toyota in the Chinese market in March is a new product jointly developed by the two companies. In addition, momenta announced a strategic partnership with Toyota in March 2020. In March 2021, momenta completed a total financing amount of US$500 million in Series C financing. At that time, Toyota's investment was regarded as "financial support for momenta, and it also strengthened the cooperative relationship between the two parties."

Learn from each other

Although the news of Toyota and Huawei’s smart driving cooperation has not been confirmed, at a time when Japanese cars continue to suffer from declining sales pressure in the Chinese market, industry analysts believe that Japanese car companies are re-evaluating their competitiveness in the Chinese market. , in-depth cooperation with China’s smart driving industry may be able to learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

According to the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" report, since 2024, the overall sales of Japanese cars in China have shown a downward trend. Toyota released data on April 8 saying that new car sales in the Chinese market fell by 3.1% year-on-year to 132,200 units in March. Honda has previously announced sales of 60,400 units in China in March, a decrease of 26.3%. Nissan Automobile's main car sales have rebounded, with sales in China increasing by 10% in March to 59,900 units. Among the three major Japanese car companies, only Nissan's sales increased.

Looking at the sales of three Japanese car companies in the Chinese market from January to March, Toyota decreased by 1.5% to 374,200 units, Nissan increased by 3.3% to 167,300 units, and Honda decreased by 6.1% to 206,900 units. Regarding sales performance, Toyota said that "the Chinese automobile market is undergoing price competition, and consumers' expectations for price cuts have increased, and a wait-and-see mood has emerged." "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" stated that China's auto market is transitioning to pure electric vehicles, and Japanese companies are struggling. Nissan plans to cut production in China by 30%, and Honda also plans to cut production by 20%.

"In the past, Chinese car companies 'traded the market for technology.' In the domestic market, more foreign car companies invested in Chinese companies, and the same was true for Japanese car brands." Zhang Xiang, a visiting professor at the Yellow River Institute of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on the 12th Reporters analyzed that in the past two years, Japanese car companies have also begun to invest in Chinese companies and invest in purchasing Chinese technology. This is a new feature.

"Chinese companies have achieved fruitful results in the field of intelligent autonomous driving. So now Japanese companies are also beginning to spend money to cooperate with Chinese companies. Some of Japan's established car companies have accumulated certain intelligent driving technologies in the era of fuel vehicles, but in the The accumulation of smart driving technology in the new energy era is relatively weak. "Zhang Xiang analyzed that the new energy vehicle systems that focus on intelligence are becoming more and more complex, especially the software complexity is far beyond that of fuel vehicles, and it is difficult to rely on the strength and resources of one car company. There is a breakthrough.

China ICT industry analyst Jiang Junmu told a reporter from the Global Times on the 11th that Huawei has a lot of accumulation in the field of smart driving, including smart cockpits and some functional comprehensive solutions. At the same time, Huawei does not manufacture cars itself and will not directly compete with other car companies. It can also be deeply tied to car companies as a solution or parts supplier. This approach allows car companies to focus more on product design, marketing and other areas, and keep up with the trend of smart connected cars and new energy.

Multinational companies have extended an "olive branch" to smart driving.

Frank, an smart driving expert from a German car company, told a reporter from the Global Times on the 11th that, similar to Germany, Japan, a traditional car power, has lagged behind China and the United States in the field of smart driving. In the past, German and Japanese car companies had reservations about cooperating with Chinese companies on intelligent driving, fearing that they would lose their core competitiveness. However, as the new energy vehicle industry has led to a restructuring trend in the global automotive industry, they have to change their previous concepts. Professor Dudenhofer, director of the Automotive Research Institute in Bochum, Germany and known as the "Godfather of Automobiles," said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times on the 11th that Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and Xiaomi are changing the electric vehicle market. These technology companies work with automakers to develop cars and provide intelligent driving systems. "The role of the automobile industry will undergo some kind of reversal. Technology giants provide ecosystems and intelligent applications for cars. If traditional automobile companies do not transform, they may only be able to assemble cars and become suppliers of technology giants."

Frank believes that from intelligence to In terms of driving technology, American companies represented by Tesla have outstanding advantages in test scenarios and data. Chinese companies mainly succeed in applications, and many smart driving start-ups have been born. The automobile industries of Japan and Germany lack the participation of technology companies. "The Chinese market is a testing ground for intelligent driving, leading the global market. Intelligent driving cooperation between foreign car companies and Chinese technology companies is a new opportunity for both parties."

Compared with Japanese car companies, German car companies and Chinese companies Cooperation in the field of intelligent driving has also made great progress. Volkswagen's official website stated at the end of February this year that Volkswagen and Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturer Xpeng Motors have signed a technology cooperation agreement for joint development of platforms and software. The two parties will jointly develop two Volkswagen brand mid-size cars in the early stages of cooperation. BMW official website also previously revealed that the core partners of BMW’s smart driving China solution include Qualcomm, Intel, Tencent, Qianxun Position, NavInfo and other Chinese and international technology companies.

has also extended an "olive branch" to American companies. The German Handelsblatt reported that the American chip company Nvidia has expanded its cooperation with BYD, the leader of the Chinese electric vehicle market, such as artificial intelligence models for autonomous driving. Nvidia announced that future cooperation will also cover areas such as automobile production, on-board computing and artificial intelligence training. To this end, BYD will use Nvidia's latest generation drive thor chip platform, which can also be used for autonomous driving. BYD will also use Nvidia's artificial intelligence infrastructure to train artificial intelligence models for autonomous driving.