GAC unveils intelligent driving ecosystem

GAC Group, a major automobile maker in Guangdong province, has unveiled an intelligent and interconnected driving ecosystem to facilitate its development in the booming new energy vehicle sector.

The innovative ecosystem ADiGo developed in collaboration with internet giants Tencent Holdings Ltd and Huawei Technologies includes a system of automatic driving and intelligent connectivity with subsidiary systems of cloud computing and big data, the company said.

"The ADiGo ecosystem is of great importance to GAC's future development. The group is moving into becoming a mobile driving service provider and transforming into an intelligent automobile manufacturer," said Feng Xingya, president of the GAC Group.

The development of intelligently connected new energy vehicles will become a major business growth driver for the company, the official said.

"The automatic driving and intelligent connectivity systems will become a real smart driving service provider for our customers," said Feng.

Early in 2017, GAC began construction of a large industrial park for new energy and intelligent vehicles in the Panyu district of Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong province.

With an area of about 5 million square meters and more than 45 billion yuan ($6.54 billion) in investment, the industrial park includes manufacturing, core auto parts and leading technological research for new energy cars, the company explained.

Construction of the first phase of the park, with a designed production capacity of 400,000 units of vehicles, was completed at the end of 2018.

Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC New Energy Automobile Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the GAC Group, said the company has established its second generation of electric vehicle manufacturing, known as the GAC Electric Platform.

"Building new energy vehicles is not simply putting batteries into traditional fuel cars. The electric platform will enable us to develop real new energy cars," said Gu.

The GAC electric platform will enable new EVs to run more than 600 kilometers on a single charge. The intelligent connectivity and smart driving ecosystem will be installed in GAC's new electric model Aion LX, which will be put into production in September this year, Gu added.

"The ecosystem will make driving more intelligent and connected, giving customers a safe driving experience," the GAC official said.

Gu said the 5G technology would facilitate auto driving and intelligent connectivity in vehicles.

"Auto driving and intelligent connectivity will go beyond our expectations, following the wide use of 5G technology," said Gu.

Sales of new energy cars in China reached 577,000 units in the first five months of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 66 percent, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.