After already delving into the world of autonomous bots (roll-out) and ‘upstaging’ Samsung at its own foldable game, you might think Xiaomi would cool it on the announcements for a while. Well, no. Xiaomi has offered the world an update on its entry into the world of smart EVs. This included another announcement; the unveiling of its Xiaomi Pilot Technology, the company’s own autonomous driving solution.
Piloting change
Self-driving cars are the future, or so every car company in the world believes. Sure, there’s a demand. But is there really demand from a company known more for its smart tech than for cars? No? Xiaomi is doing it anyway.
The Xiaomi team is currently deep in its R&D (Research and Development) phase, with the company planning to invest close to R8 billion in the project. It has focused on acquiring a range of companies to help it understand the automobile industry as a whole.
During a press conference, CEO Lei Jun also showed a video demonstrating the autonomous driving technology its building. The video showed how the pilot would handle specific real-world scenarios. It also showed off the algorithms behind them. The video specifically showed a car performing basic tasks such as taking on circles, U-turns, and parking. Xiaomi announced a special parking “solution” that will cover a few different parking scenarios you may find yourself in. “Reserved parking spaces”, “autonomous valet” and the slightly worrying “automatic robot arm charging”.
To execute its project a little more smoothly, Xiaomi has acquired self-driving start-up Shendong Technologies. This gives Xiaomi access to a larger pool of talent and information to work with. As it stands, around 500 workers are involved in R&D, with Xiaomi hoping to increase that number to 600 by December.
“Xiaomi’s autonomous driving technology adopts a self-developed full-stack approach, and the project has made progress beyond expectations,” said Jun.
Industry leader by 2024
Xiaomi intends to lead the pack in terms of smart EVs by 2024. That’s rather aspirational, considering Tesla has dominated for the last decade or so. Still, who knows? Maybe Xiaomi’s expenditure could help them reach their target in less than two years.
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Its first cars will begin showing up soon, though the company will limit this to 140 test vehicles at first. From there, Xiaomi intends to make changes based on user feedback. There are no details, spec-wise, about what potential drivers can expect. There’s just the idea that it’ll be at least partially autonomous — so expect something that behaves at least a little like a Tesla.
Technically, this isn’t Xiaomi’s first EV – that would be the Xiaomi Mi Electric Scooter lineup. If it can continue that level of fun, perhaps its first real car will be worth checking out.
