New details about Xiaomi's first car have emerged. According to Chinese media, it will be an electric sedan with autopilot and a lidar system. In the top configuration, the cost of this model will exceed 300,000 yuan (43.4 thousand US dollars).
It was previously expected that Xiaomi's first-born would be an A+ electric car with a basic level driving assistance system, priced between 150,000 and 200,000 yuan ($21.7k to $28.9k). And only then will there be a B-class car with prices ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 yuan (from 28.9 to 43.4 dollars) with an advanced autopilot.
Lidars (optical distance meter) for Xiaomi's first mass-produced electric vehicle will be supplied by Hesai Technology. The kit will include an AT128 hybrid solid state lidar as the main one and several additional solid state lidars that can cover blind spots due to the wide viewing angle.
The Hesai AT128 was released in 2021 and is already being used by Li Auto in the L9 SUV, which went on sale in China on August 30th.
Xiaomi is confident that without lidars, autonomous driving systems will not reach the expected level of driving automation. The company has invested 3.3 billion yuan (nearly $500 million) in the first phase of developing its own unmanned system. The unit currently has a team of 500 people, and 140 cars with a prototype autopilot drive on the roads of China.
Serial Xiaomi electric car should appear in 2024.
Source: Cnevpost
