On April 12, 2024, the GAC TECH DAY 2024 event was held at the GAC R&D Center in Guangzhou city. The event showcased the launch of the China’s leading map-free pure vision intelligent driving system and a high-safety, large-capacity all-solid-state power battery. Both technologies are scheduled to be applied in vehicles by 2026.
All-solid-state power battery
As a core component of new energy vehicles, power battery technology is directly linked to crucial indicators such as driving range and safety, and it development is also a technological high ground in the global automotive industry's shift towards electrification.
GAC Group has preliminarily established a full-process manufacturing technique for all-solid-state batteries, achieving key technological breakthroughs for mass production of automotive-grade, high-safety, large-capacity all-solid-state power batteries. These batteries offer three core advantages: ultra-high energy density, ultra-high safety, and large-capacity all-solid-state cells, said the automaker. They are expected to be deployed in the Hyper-branded model by 2026.
GAC Group said its all-solid-state power battery utilizes high-capacity solid-state cathode technology and third-generation sponge silicon anode technology (new nano-silicon composite anode). The solid-state cathode achieves a high areal capacity of over 5mAh/cm2, resulting in an energy density of over 400Wh/kg. Compared to the most advanced liquid-state lithium-ion batteries currently available, its volume energy density and mass energy density have increased by more than 50%, enabling a vehicle range exceeding 1,000km.
In terms of safety, GAC's all-solid-state power battery uses a high-strength dense composite electrolyte membrane, which can prevent explosions in 200°C hot-box tests. Additionally, the battery maintains stable performance under extreme conditions such as puncture, cutting, -78°C dry-ice environments, and 90°C hot-water immersion. It will not undergo thermal runaway under mechanical abuse conditions like nail penetration and cutting.
Regarding the cell capacity, GAC Group has successfully established a full-process manufacturing technique for all-solid-state power batteries through testing over a hundred materials and process solutions, achieving the manufacture of large-size, multi-layer stacked all-solid-state cells with capacities up to 30Ah. This establishes a foundation for the application of automotive-grade all-solid-state power batteries, said the automaker.
Map-free pure vision intelligent driving system
In the field of intelligent driving, GAC Group has possessed numerous advanced intelligent driving technologies, including super parking capable of handling extreme spaces, one-touch summoning, cross-layer driving on steep curves, and high-speed NDA (navigated driving assist), urban NDA , and traffic jam pilot, with autonomous driving in the form of Robotaxi demonstration operations already achieved.
Named GARCIA OS, the map-free pure vision intelligent driving system introduced at this TECH DAY is applicable to various complex scenarios. Unlike mainstream technologies, it does not require high-precision maps or rely on LiDAR. Instead, it combines vision sensors with industry-leading AI algorithms to perceive the world as humans do. With a simpler hardware system, it achieves a broader range of intelligent driving coverage, offering users a richer, freer, all-scenario driving experience.
The company added the GARCIA OS excels in visual recognition with three leading capabilities, providing significant advantages in the field of autonomous driving. First, it has the ability to precisely understand complex traffic roads, accurately identifying and understanding structures in scenarios such as ramps, tunnels, bends, intersections, and forks. Second, it has strong traffic light recognition capabilities, accurately identifying various signal elements through deep neural networks, including types of traffic lights, symbols, colors, countdowns, and flashing states. Third, it has the capacity to handle complex and changing scenes, with a perception range extending over 150+ meters ahead of the vehicle, 100 meters behind, and 50 meters to each side. It perceives not only common traffic factors like vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and small animals but also irregular obstacles like pushcarts and camping tents.
In decision-making and action, through real-time tracking of dynamic traffic objects, intent recognition, and trajectory prediction, along with data-driven and expert rule-based command brains, as well as using GAC's pioneering fluidic spatiotemporal joint planning technology, this system can precisely predict the behavior of other traffic participants, making reasonable, safe, and efficient driving decisions. Moreover, in parking scenarios, the system achieves the industry's most challenging vertical and narrow parking functions with the error narrowed to as little as 5cm.
Additionally, the map-free pure vision intelligent driving system has the capability for continuous learning and evolution. With GAC’s self-developed data loop and simulation system, GARCIA OS can continuously iterate and optimize algorithms in simulation testing, achieving self-improvement and evolution.
It is noteworthy that GAC Group has strategically positioned itself in the field of autonomous driving technology with two mainstream technology routes: "multi-sensor fusion technology" and the forward-looking "map-free pure vision technology," both of which eliminate dependence on high-precision maps. Currently, high-precision maps cover only about 6% of the country’s road mileage, meaning that autonomous driving based on high-precision maps is infeasible on approximately 94% of the roads nationwide. Both of GAC's technology routes achieve "driving with just navigation."
Autonomous driving data solution
As a crucial basis for the continuous iteration of autonomous driving technologies, GAC Group is actively building a data loop from multiple dimensions. It has invested in the construction of GAC Cloud Data Center and GAC Intelligent Connected Big Data Platform, among others. Through its ONTIME mobility service platform, it has launched an autonomous driving data solution covering three major sections: the ONTIME Data Encoder data annotation platform, the ONTIME MapNet high-precision map toolchain, and the ONTIME NexSim intelligent driving simulation platform, driving the closed-loop iteration of autonomous driving with data at its core.
Other highlights
At this TECH DAY, GAC Group also showcased a variety of advanced technologies and user-friendly products, including electromagnetic suspension, the MBoard2.0 core smart chassis, and flying car, as well as the Trumpchi E9 new energy welfare vehicle, which was developed to deeply customize for users with mobility issues.
Previously, GAC Group's first flying car, GOVE, achieved its global maiden flight at the GAC TECH DAY 2023 and conducted a flight demonstration over Guangzhou's CBD in March this year. This marked the first completion of flight validation in a complex urban low-altitude environment, taking an important step towards exploring GAC's urban air traffic demonstration operation.
GAC's new light commercial division—MIRACO MOTOR—was officially launched at this year's TECH DAY. Its MLounge first-class cabin displayed at the event supports level 2 to level 4 intelligent driving and is set to enter mass production later this year. The MBoard2.0 core smart chassis applies "software-defined chassis technology" to achieve cabin-drive separation, continually building new scenarios, new species, and new dynamics for exploring better ways of mobile living.
The Trumpchi E9 new energy welfare vehicle showcased at the event is a profound reflection of GAC Group's social responsibility and humanistic care, said the company. It features the world's first detachable electric welfare seat, which can easily separate from the vehicle and transform into an electric mobility wheelchair upon landing, with a range of 26 kilometers and a maximum load capacity of 120 kilograms.
