Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

"now, even if you drive an assistant driver, you still have to cheer up and keep your hands on the steering wheel."

Recently, after a rear-end collision of a Xiaopeng P7 on a viaduct in Ningbo, many new energy car owners suggested on the Internet that they should use as little as possible and be careful with the auxiliary driving functions of electric vehicles.

Mr. Yao, who lives in Guangzhou, is one of them. He revealed that when driving on the highway these days, even if you drive an auxiliary driver, your feet should hover on the brake pedal, and if there is an emergency, you should try your best to step on the brake. Keep your eyes fixed on the front every second, and driving an assistant driver seems to be a bit more tiring than "manual" driving.

However, when asked, "since driving assistance is even more tiring, why not turn it off?" At that time, Mr. Yao subconsciously replied, and immediately made it difficult to understand the notes: "what you don't understand, if you drive it as an ordinary car, wouldn't it be a loss if I spent a lot of money on a car with auxiliary functions?"

"01" boasts of "automatic" from car companies to sales. in fact, Tesla has recently been investigated for accidents caused by "assisted driving" overseas, and many new car-building forces have been criticized for this intelligent function. In view of the growing crisis of trust in assisted driving, some "Lizhongke" believe that as an emerging technology, assisted driving should be given a certain degree of tolerance, both in the industry and in the market. If you completely negate the new technological path because of several fatal accidents, you will give up eating for fear of choking.

However, some netizens pointed out that the controversy over the assisted driving system is not only "road safety is no small matter", but also related to excessive boasting and excessive boasting by car companies. In order to sell cars, some new car-building forces even package limited auxiliary functions as "autopilot". In the event of an accident, public opinion will inevitably ferment quickly.

It can be seen that the harder the assistant driver is blown, the harder he will fall.

At present, the self-driving level of L2 (auxiliary driving) is generally recognized in the industry and the highest self-driving level of mass-produced cars is L2 (auxiliary driving), that is, the vehicle can achieve partial automation, but the driver should control the car together with the system. So for auxiliary driving, different car companies in publicity, promotion, in the end is how to define it?

On the official websites of several new car-building companies, I can see that the words "autopilot" are prominently marked on the page introducing the auxiliary driving system. On the contrary, Xiaopeng, who is at the forefront of the "tuyere and waves", and the representative of the traditional car company, GAC Ean, are clearly marked with the "intelligent driving assistance" system.

However, no matter what the official definition is, at sales terminals such as 4S stores, the sales consultant seems to have a broader explanation of the auxiliary driving system, which can only be partially automated and inseparable from the participation of the driver. is further default to "autopilot".

"anyway, the concept of autopilot is a basket, and consumers can put it in it for any demand." Jia Li, who used to work as a sales consultant for a new car-building brand (Shenzhen City Exhibition Hall), recalled that in the first week of her job, the company would train newcomers about cars and sales.

Among them, there is a course dedicated to explain the implementation principle of the auxiliary driving system and the current stage of development. She admits that most newcomers, including her, end up remembering that auxiliary driving belongs to one of the "autopilot" grades.

"in order to sell more cars and more high-end versions, in the end, the sales consultant blew up the assistant driver." For example, for users who commute more than 100 kilometers and often run high speed, sales often say that self-developed "autopilot" systems can help users "free their hands" and greatly reduce the fatigue of long-distance driving.

As for consumers who often travel with their families on weekends, they prefer "autopilot" to deal with road condition information, so as to reduce the attention needed for driving, so that they can have more energy. You can chat with your family and children during the trip. "the video of Tesla's car owner driving and sleeping is often used as an example to attract users to buy auxiliary driving models."

If it is a female driver who is afraid of parking, the "automatic parking" function in the "autopilot" system will undoubtedly make it easier for female drivers to park their cars. As for the "pure road-end awareness" and other high-level functions that have not been realized for the time being, it doesn't matter, there will be OTA for the whole vehicle in the future, so that the vehicle can be used often and always new.

In a word, there is nothing wrong with buying a "self-driving" model equipped with millimeter wave, lidar and full-stack imaging solutions. So, the salespeople exaggerate the propaganda and blow the auxiliary driving function into an "autopilot" system. Are they not afraid that after consumers pick up the car, they will believe it and liberate their hands, resulting in risks?

"well prepared, before customers pick up the car, the sales consultant will tell each other in the name of 'precautions' that there will be certain conditions for turning on autopilot, such as keeping your hands on the steering wheel and taking over the vehicle at any time. Of course, there are slightly more serious customers who pick the words and complain that the sales are suspected of false propaganda, but it is not a big problem."

Whether the "02" new energy car can be sold depends on it. Jiali told her to know how to take notes, not to mention that auxiliary driving is one of the stages of the development of "self-driving" technology. Even if consumers complain to the authorities, sales consultants are usually not punished. After all, function exaggeration is the personal behavior of sales consultants, but as long as they can sell more cars, car companies will not interfere.

In addition, in order to prevent consumers from complaining to regulators, most car companies have reserved their skills in promoting "autopilot". In many "autopilot" publicity pages, officials will use inconspicuous gray small print to explain the function: can not completely replace driver control, can not fully deal with the traffic environment.

In the event of an accident in the auxiliary driving system, similar inconspicuous functional notes can also make the car company "throw the pot" more reasonable. What is puzzling is that what kind of charm does the so-called "autopilot" concept have? car companies would rather risk being "scolded" and hold them to the end.

Perhaps many careful people will find that today's "autopilot" technology is often used in new energy vehicles. For many mainframe factories and new power brands, new energy vehicles are the best carrier of "self-driving" technology.

However, the reason behind the boasting of "autopilot" technology by new energy car companies is much more than that.

"do you know what are the three major components of new energy vehicles?"

Talking about new energy car companies boasting driving assistance as a topic of "self-driving" technology, Zhang Sen (not his real name), who has been engaged in the research and development of automobile-related technology for nearly a decade, asked a question with interest to understand notes. He gave a hint: the core technical barriers to traditional fuel cars are engines, gearboxes and chassis.

However, when he understood the notes and pointed out that the three major pieces of new energy vehicles are "batteries, motors and electronic controls", he shook his head and said with a smile that the three big new energy vehicles jokingly called by the industry today are color televisions, refrigerators and sofas-implying that today's new energy car "assassins" blindly pile up configurations and drive up prices.

"the problem behind these chaos is that the core technical barriers of car companies in the field of new energy vehicles are not high, and innovation is weak. Many new energy vehicle companies, batteries, electric controls and motors, are procurement off-the-shelf solutions, technical homogenization, quite serious."

Batteries in Ningde era, electric controls in mainland China, and founder motors. Enterprises purchase a set, and then only do the "four major processes" can also save a new energy car.

Therefore, Zhang Sen pointed out that in order to improve the market competitiveness of their new energy vehicles, car companies began to build cars differently.

"luxury, to put it bluntly, is desperately piling up materials, and now independent new energy models worth more than 100,000 yuan have a good sense of luxury." However, the high-end process of independent new energy vehicles has also begun to show signs of homogenization and lack of innovation, "so we can only work hard on auxiliary driving and want to use intelligence to widen the gap between each other."

Therefore, there are media reports, reviewing the R & D revenue ratio of independent car companies in the past three years, are in a state of increasing year by year.

For example, SAIC, which spent 19.6 billion yuan on R & D in 2021, has invested more in new energy, intelligent networking, digital and other technologies.

Great Wall Motor and GAC GROUP also announced plans to invest 1000 billion yuan in research and development in areas such as new energy and intelligence in the future.

As for the new forces of domestic car-building, they firmly hold on to the banner of "autopilot" and try to realize overtaking in corners by means of intelligence.

"without talking about intelligence or boasting about 'autopilot' technology, how do these new forces compare with traditional car companies?" Zhang Sen said frankly that the new forces of car building, regardless of the layout of the sales network or the accumulation of car-building experience and technology, are far inferior to traditional car companies.

In his view, the reason why some medium-and high-end new energy vehicles can sell is often to rely on the "sense of science and technology" intelligence, attracting a higher quality of life, maverick part of the consumer group.

Therefore, the new forces can only make great efforts in intelligent configuration such as auxiliary driving, make great efforts to "package" and boast, and let the models form a unique product force, which is similar to that of the traditional car company Battle.

Whether it is the high-end before, or today's intelligence, auxiliary driving and even "autopilot", it is the inevitable result of new energy car companies to achieve differential competition and engage in an "arms race". However, compared with the competition in other fields, intelligence, especially the aggressive competition to assist driving, will "kill people".

When will "03" over-publicize "autopilot" stop? Although some salespeople say that when car owners pick up their cars, they will "correct" the previously exaggerated "autopilot" technology in actual use, so as to avoid the risk caused by car owners "believing it."

But in fact, the long-term over-promotion of "self-driving" technology in the new energy vehicle industry has been enough to weaken users' awe of traffic safety.

As a result, in recent years, people in the industry have called one after another that car companies should avoid exaggerating the role of auxiliary driving functions, or even over-publicize "autopilot" technology. Some netizens even suggested that direct legislation prohibit false propaganda by car companies and package auxiliary driving as "autopilot".

As early as 2020, there were media reports that a court in Munich banned Tesla from describing his driving assistance technology as "autopilot" in Germany-because it could mislead consumers. So, is it feasible to regulate car companies to promote auxiliary driving by way of legislation?

On August 1, China's first regulations related to assisted driving and self-driving, the regulations on the Administration of cars in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, officially landed, although the regulations clearly defined the division of accident responsibility for intelligent networked vehicles, but the main body of its application is still test vehicles, not passenger cars and private cars.

"due to the lack of laws and regulations, car companies and sales consultants exaggerate the promotion of assisted driving, which is immoral but not illegal." Zhang Qi (a pseudonym) of the car media told him that car companies and sales consultants often ignore the importance of "people" in the self-driving function in order to highlight intelligence in the promotion of auxiliary driving.

Similar industrial chaos reminded her that at the beginning of the development of domestic new energy vehicles, when car companies promoted the service of their products, they quoted the mileage of "60 constant speed", which led to the phenomenon that the actual driving range of car owners was very different from the nominal mileage. At the same time, it also lays the inherent label of "driving anxiety" for the follow-up development of the industry.

"inaccuracy and avoiding important points do not mean that false propaganda can stop car companies from over-promoting the way of 'self-driving'. It is only to make users understand the gap and definition between auxiliary driving and 'self-driving'. For this reason, in the way of publicity and popular science, it is fundamental to enhance consumer awareness."

Zhang Qi told to understand the notes that in 2019, some industry tycoons and automobile media collectively "shot" and attacked the "60 constant speed" mileage standard, which was a key factor forcing car companies to adopt NEDC, WLTP and CLTC mileage as nominal mileage.

[conclusion] since August last year, people in the industry, such as ideal CEO Li Xiang, Chairman Zhou Hongyi, Chairman Shen Hui of Weima, and Chairman Fu Qiang of Aichi, have expressed their views on the over-promotion of "autopilot" by some of their peers.

Before the recent related accidents, the Ministry of Transport issued the Guide to Transport Safety Service of self-driving vehicles (trial) (draft for soliciting opinions), which is the first time to provide safety norms for the commercialization of self-driving at the national level.

Perhaps, only by "crusading" against car companies that over-publicize "self-driving" technology, standardizing the naming mechanism of grading technology, and perfecting laws and regulations, can we fundamentally put an end to the "imperfect" auxiliary driving technology from becoming a marketing tactic at the sales end, and avoid misleading users and causing heavy losses.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: know Notes (ID:dongdong_note), written by: Shenle, Editor: Qin Yan, produced by: know Notes

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