China's Haomo delivers affordable ADAS kits to speed up adoption

Haomo.AI Technology, a startup with Great Wall Motor's backing, has thrown down the gauntlet to competitors with its newly unveiled trio of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) kits. These kits not only boast attractive pricing but also aim to do away with the dependency on high-definition maps, which many competitors rely upon.

The game-changing revelation occurred during Haomo's 9th AI Day event. The company unveiled the HP170, HP370, and HP570 ADAS kits. Starting at a mere RMB 3,000 ($410) these kits aim to become standard from budget cars to luxury vehicles, capitalizing on the delivering a surge in smart driving adoption. Experts predict a whopping 70% penetration rate for smart driving features by 2025.

In the race for cost-effective smart driving solutions, Haomo now stands at the forefront. Alibaba-backed DeepRoute previously held the title with its Driver 3.0 solution, but its lowest price was $1,000 - a mark Haomo decisively undercut.

Let's get into the nitty-gritty. The HP170, with a price range from RMB 3,000 to RMB 3,999 ($410 to $550), offers autonomous highway driving capabilities, automatic emergency braking rated five-star by E-NACP, and short-distance memory parking. It achieves it with computing power of 5 TOPS, accompanied by a sensor system which includes one forward-facing camera, four fisheye cameras, two rear corner radars, and 12 ultrasonic radars. Additional radar options are also available.

For those looking for a bit more capable system, there's the HP370. Priced between RMB 5,000 and RMB 5,999 ($680 and $820), it boasts memory driving within urban areas and intelligent obstacle avoidance. This kit is powered with 32 TOPS of computing capacity and a richer sensor system.

Finally there's the HP570 with a price tag ranging from RMB 8,000 to RMB 8,999 ($1,100 to $1,230), this kit promises automatic urban road driving and full-scenario parking assistance. Makers can choose between a 72 TOPS chip or a whopping 100 TOPS chip. And if that wasn't enough, there's an option to add a LiDAR sensor.

Haomo's second-generation HPilot passenger car ADAS products not only outperform their predecessors but also come at a lower price. Production vehicles featuring these kits are expected to roll out in 2023 and 2024, as announced by Haomo chairman Zhang Kai.

While these kits certainly stirred excitement, the event didn't end there. Haomo gave a nod to its AI ambitions, unveiling progress made by DriveGPT. Dubbed the first generative foundation model of autonomous driving, DriveGPT is making strides in mimicking human-like driving cognition. Just a few months post-launch, it has screened billions of internet image frames and millions of 3D autonomous driving clips, with data mirroring human driving behavior.

CEO Gu Weihao is optimistic. He envisions a future where autonomous driving systems are just as adept at perceiving and measuring 3D space as humans, resulting in true autonomy. DriveGPT is making strides in this direction, transforming the real world into a 3D vector space. Alongside this, Haomo has introduced open-source visual text models, potentially enabling machines to perceive their surroundings just like humans.

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