The Hongqi E-HS9, a pure electric premium SUV, was recently unveiled by China FAW Group to go on sale in China and Europe.
While not intended for U.S. sales, it does include technology from U.S.-based Qualcomm. The Quectel Wireless Solutions AG15 module in the vehicle is integrated with Qualcomm’s 9150 cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) chipset.
As such, it is the auto industry’s first production vehicle readied for driving assistance warning in LTE-V2X communication and the first commercial vehicle with LTE-V2X technology, Qualcomm said.
The 9150 is Qualcomm’s first chipset for C-V2X, which creates the ability for cars to talk to other vehicles and to roadside sensors. Such a network will enable higher level autonomous driving capabilities. Cars could even communicate with each other to indicate if one car has a faulty sensor.
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“With China’s new plans to upgrade its current roadside infrastructure, the development of intelligent connected vehicles has become an important strategic decision in driving transformation and advancing the Chinese automobile industry,” said Gang Sun, vice president of product marketing for Qualcomm International (Shanghai) Co. in a statement.
The Hongqi E-HS9 was tested over multiple V2X use cases, including forward collision warning, blind spot warning and lane change warning, and intersection collision warning and achieved a 100% pass rate.
The vehicle also has high-precision positioning capability, supported by Qualcomm Dead Reckoning and comprehensive position fusion technologies.
When first revealed in May, the SUV was expected to go on sale starting at 480,000 Chinese Yuan, or about $73,000 USD.