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"2021 was a watershed moment, the beginning of the decisive four-way battle between traditional car companies, technology companies, Internet companies and new forces in car manufacturing, and perhaps in two or three years, the positions of many brands will be interchanged, and new brands will emerge." Ning Shuyong, president of the automotive division of ASU, said to Autohome.
Before entering the automotive industry, Ning Shuyong had 6 years of experience as a reporter, and 10 more years of experience in the communications industry. In November 2010, Ning joined Volvo China as Vice President of Public Affairs, and has been working in the automotive industry ever since.
In July 2020, Ning Shuyong, then vice president of Great Wall Group, chose to leave and joined ASU, a supplier focusing on laser virtual display and virtual interaction technology, as a co-founder in August.
From media, to communications, to the automotive industry, every step of his experience was steady and firm, which also gives Ning Shuyong a more unique insight into the automotive industry. A few days ago, Autohome had a conversation with him to have a chat about the development of this industry.
Although a start-up company, 85% of ASU’s employees are R&D personnel, including 4 PhDs in various fields. In terms of products, ASU has created a complete LCoS ecosystem, including LCoS image engines, camera lens, LCoS driver & modulation, and application scenario optical solutions.
It is understood that LCOS is a novel type of reflective micro-LCD projection technology, using laser light source, which has the advantages of lower cost, better performance being more energy saving, and better in terms of environmental protection. At present, 90% of the world's projection-type PGUs (picture generation units) use DLP technology with LED light source, but this technology is monopolized by the US.
Therefore, the application of LCoS technology "breaks the monopoly of DLP technology dominated by international companies.” Ning Shuyong said, “At the same time, this technology also allows the AR-HUD of ASU to have many technical advantages in terms of parameters, for example the field of view, the current mainstream product in the market is 10°×4°, while ASU can achieve 12°×4°.”
HUD, as an important part of the car, has also undergone several generations, from C-HUD to W-HUD to AR-HUD, but the current ubiquity of AR-HUD is not high. At last month's Shanghai Auto Show, only a few high-end models were equipped with it.
In terms of suppliers, Huawei's AR-HUD has generated heated discussions, but in actual operation, there were issues like sunlight intrusion, resulting in an unclear display. Raythink has also released new HUD solutions, including AR-HUD. Raythink's AR-HUD is expected to be launched into mass-production in 2023.
ASU's AR-HUD does not currently have an integrated mass production project yet, but it has been carrying out pairing and integrating validation tests with several car companies, and the first car model equipped with it is expected to be launched in the second half of 2022 at the earliest, and several new models are also under the process of pre-development. The AR-HUD is still limited by technology, application environment, cost and other issues, and is not widely used for the time being, but Ning Shuyong believes that in the next 1-3 years, AR-HUD will see a mass-rollout and become a huge trend.
C-HUD was the 1.0 era, W-HUD was the 2.0 era, AR-HUD is the 3.0 era, then the HUD based on optical waveguides will be the 4.0 era, which will also be a major development direction and goal for ASU. Ning Shuyong said: "Optical waveguide technology will make the HUD very small, and other parameters will also be improved, this is expected to be gradually adopted and equipped by OEMs in 5 years.”
Although ASU is in possession of leading technology in the field of AR-HUD, it is still only one of the components in the entire automotive industry chain. Nowadays, the entire industry is undergoing profound changes, and the respective role of each company and organisation in the industrial chain is also changing. As a supplier, ASU is also deeply involved in all the changes.
In the traditional automotive industry chain, the main players are the suppliers, the OEMs, and the dealers. Among them, the suppliers are the fundamental driving force behind the development of the automotive industry, and many trends and technologies of smart automotives are developed by the suppliers. Now, with the strong presence of technology companies, and the addition of many multi-discipline companies, the development of smart automotives has been greatly pushed forwards.
Originally, the important role of OEMs in the automotive industry was the integration of resources and technology, and with the development of smart automotives, the requirements for OEMs in software and hardware capabilities are ever-increasing. Therefore, many OEMs have set up their own software teams, but also indirectly increased the control of OEMs over the industrial chain.
This has also changed the relationship between suppliers and OEMs, "Now suppliers and OEMs have changed from having subordinate relationships, to more equal round-table types, and while OEMs are constantly probing downwards, many Tier 2 suppliers are also jumping up to become Tier 1 suppliers." Ning Shuyong said.
For technology companies, Ning Shuyong believes that the integration of technology companies and car manufacturers is the general trend, but technology companies should still have a sense of respect for the automotive industry. Although there are technology giants such as Huawei entering the field, but the boundaries that define car manufacturers are still clear, technologies are simply empowering cars.
The car is a very complex product, with a great number of components involved, so in the future of automotive competition, the competition in the supply chain is very important, after all, car companies cannot develop all the parts themselves. Now facing the impact from both the revolutions within the industry and external factors, Ning Shuyong believes that "Every enterprise wants to survive, but to do so, it must have its own core competitiveness, and its own moat should be wide." For ASU, although not a giant enterprise like Huawei, but if they manage to build its own core competitiveness in its own professional field – laser virtual reality and interactives – then it will have its own advantages in the industry competition.
On the other hand, there will also be car companies who, in the absence of core competitive advantages, will naturally be surpassed by the new players such as Xiaomi. Xiaomi has a strong user base, supply chain and software algorithms, and only needs to locate a vehicle platform and a partner with manufacturing capabilities, to occupy a place in the automotive industry.
