Huawei Recruits BAIC Executive to Bolster Automotive Solution Ecosystem

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has recruited executives from BAIC Group to augment their capabilities in smart automotive solutions. Zheng Gang, a public relations and administrative executive at BAIC Group from 2001 to 2014, has joined Huawei.

Huawei began to develop in-car solutions in 2013, with the business incorporated into the company’s Consumer Business Unit. However, in May of 2019, founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei announced that Huawei would establish an independent Intelligent Vehicles Business Unit. While Huawei has placed increased importance on smart automotive solutions, Ren Zhengfei has previously stated that Huawei would never build its own car, instead cooperating with traditional OEMs to create potent smart car software solutions, further enabled by 5G connectivity.

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In addition to Huawei’s Central Research Institute’s Internet of Vehicles Innovation Center, the company also has a secondary lab in Hong Kong that focuses on artificial intelligence and big data applications for automotive scenarios. Huawei aims to create an intelligent vehicle that can use 360 degree sensors to gather relevant data, to further optimize the driving experience.

According to industry projections, China’s market for intelligent vehicles will increase from 269.6 billion yuan in 2017 to 401.4 billion yuan in 2020. Meanwhile, in the same period, the number of users will increase from 11.64 million to 40.97 million and the penetration rate will reach 21.1%. Over the next ten years, sales of Huawei’s smart car solutions are expected to total $50 billion, putting the company at the forefront of automotive ICT.