Human Horizons unveils first vehicle ready for production

Chinese startup Human Horizons unveiled its first production-ready prototype vehicle, called HiPhi 1, last week in Shanghai, targeting the premium segment of the growing electric car market.

The six-seat vehicle, which is billed as a "supercar-inspired electric SUV", is capable of Level 3 autonomous driving, features vehicle-to-everything communication, and can run for 600 kilometers on one charge, said the company.

Ding Lei, the company's founder, chairman and CEO, said it will launch the model in early 2021 and trial production will start in late 2020.

The vehicles will be made at a plant of Kia's Chinese joint venture Dongfeng Yueda Kia in Jiangsu province, which is currently being refitted for the model developed by Human Horizons.

The startup claimed that the HiPhi 1 is different from any vehicle on the market, calling it a "new breed".

Measuring 5.2 meters in length and 2 meters in width, it has more than 500 sensors for high-level autonomy.

Kevin Chen, the company's chief operations officer, said it will be the first production car with a 5G-V2X enabled communication network.

He said the vehicle also has a neural network that consists of four "super brain" domain controllers and six computing platforms connected by 1GB ethernet, which provides a much higher transmission rate than traditional controller area networks.

The vehicle is handle-free with the doors opened via facial recognition or mobile phone.

Inside there is a stylish cabin that is packed with digital displays. They include a digital instrument cluster, a large infotainment system and display for the front seat passenger.

Chen said the vehicle will also monitor the driver using facial recognition cameras and even have smell sensors to detect unwanted odors.

It also features smart headlights capable of beaming patterns onto roads or walls, with examples including a zebra crossing effect to show pedestrians that it is safe to cross.

The larger panels beneath the lighting units contain hundreds of LEDs and are capable of displaying patterns or even messages.

Human Horizons' ambition does not stop with vehicles. It aims to create the ultimate mobility solution composed of smart cities, smart infrastructure and smart vehicles.

Ding said smart vehicles should act as nodes within cities connecting them to the wider world.

He said such vehicles should offer a secured, open platform to allow applications to improve user experience and they need to have the ability to learn to become more intelligent.

Due to its architecture as well as 5G technologies, HiPhi 1 can evolve with its adaptability and self-learning algorithms, the company said. It said the vehicle can come up with personalized solutions for different users through comprehensive perception and understanding of users' habits.

Human Horizons also launched a pilot smart road program in January this year in Yancheng, Jiangsu province.

The company said it is expecting to take part in similar projects in other parts of the country. Human Horizons said it will build diverse mobility carriers to suit different transportation scenarios in cities.