Huawei's New Products Feature ICVs Made in Chongqing and 'Unbreakable' Glass | Story

Chongqing - At the recent Huawei Spring Flagship New Product Launch Conference in Shanghai, several products bearing the "Made in Chongqing" label were either announced or showcased.

AITO series upgrade with Huawei's self-developed software system

Huawei's Executive Director, Yu Chengdong, shared some exciting news during the conference. "The high-end intelligent driving version of the AITO M5 will be released in April," he announced. The entire AITO series will be upgraded with Huawei's self-developed software, HarmonyOS 3.

Yu explained, "Seres is Huawei's earliest and most invested partner with the most abundant product models. Seres' Industry 4.0 standard smart factory, as well as its rich experience in vehicle design and manufacturing accumulated over the past decade, has laid a solid foundation for the quality of the AITO series."

AITO M5 is the first model after the cooperation between HUAWEI and Seres. (Photo/Seres)

Seres Group Co., Ltd., previously known as Chongqing Sokon Industry Group Co., Ltd., is a private car manufacturer listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2007. In 2017, the company obtained the government's authorization to produce new energy vehicles, and the same year, its Silicon Valley branch began trial operations.

Despite facing strong market competition and branding issues, Seres struggled with the market performance of its first car model, the SF5, which fell short of expectations and cast doubts on the company's future.

However, Seres' fortunes changed in 2021 when tech giant Huawei announced a partnership to co-create an intelligent, connected, and new energy vehicle brand. This collaboration enabled Seres to address the previously encountered software technology and sales channel problems by utilizing Huawei's advanced intelligent system.

The partnership has yielded rapid results. The first vehicle under the collaboration, the AITO M5 extended-range version, broke records in China by delivering over 10,000 units, making it the fastest single model to reach this milestone. The M7 extended-range version delivered nearly 5,000 units in just one month. Currently, the AITO series has delivered more than 75,000 vehicles cumulatively.

Huawei's "unbreakable" Kunlun glass made in Chongqing

Huawei's "unbreakable" Kunlun glass is made through a special process involving 108 different procedures, including 24 hours of crystal growth and melting at 1600 degrees Celsius.

Huawei's latest smartphone models, including the P60 Pro, P60 Art, and Mate X3 series, are equipped with Kunlun glass. The glass has been certified by Swiss SGS with a five-star anti-drop and shock-proof rating, which has increased the overall anti-drop ability of the phone by ten times compared to regular glass, according to Huawei.

It is reported that the high-aluminum-silicon special glass, lithium-aluminum-silicon special glass, and transparent nano-crystalline glass produced by the company are also widely used in fields such as aviation, high-speed rail, and new energy vehicles. (Photo/Aureavia Special Glass)

Kunlun glass is a transparent nano-crystalline glass developed by Chongqing Aureavia Hi-tech Glass Co., LTD.

According to Jiang Hong, chief scientist of Chongqing Aureavia Hi-tech Glass and director of the national special glass key laboratory, glass is a brittle material, and its fragmentation is mainly due to the expansion of micro-cracks. 

Jiang explained the billions of nano-crystal particles in nano-crystalline glass would cause the crack to deviate when it encounters the crystal grain during expansion. To crack the glass, it needs to bypass many crystals, and this path will be very long, so it obstructs the expansion of the crack.

Not long ago, Chongqing signed a batch of cooperation agreements with Huawei, and the two sides will work together to build an intelligent networked electric vehicle industry chain and ecosystem, continuously deepening cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, smart cities, industrial Internet, and enterprise digital transformation.

Other cooperation involves improving cooperation promotion mechanisms and helping Chongqing's industrial transformation and upgrading and the sustained development of strategic emerging industries.