Huawei’s First-Generation ADS Powers BAIC Arcfox Alpha S L3 Pilot Vehicles, Featuring 400 TOPS and Triple LiDAR
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BAIC’s Arcfox Alpha S (L3) pilot vehicles are reportedly powered by Huawei’s first-generation ADS system, featuring 400 TOPS of computing power and triple LiDAR for aviation-grade safety and redundancy.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has officially released the country’s first batch of approvals for L3 (conditional) autonomous driving vehicles, marking a major step toward the commercialization of higher-level automated driving. The approved models include the BAIC Arcfox Alpha S (L3 version) and the Changan Deepal SL03.
Among them, BAIC has confirmed that the Arcfox Alpha S (L3) is equipped with Huawei’s Qiankun Intelligent Driving ADS system. According to a post by automotive blogger @Blood旌旗, the L3 pilot vehicles are running Huawei’s first-generation ADS solution.
Despite the “first-generation” label, the system is far from underpowered. On the contrary, it may represent Huawei’s most aggressively configured ADS setup to date, featuring 400 TOPS of computing power and three primary LiDAR units, according to the disclosure.
Advanced Sensor Suite and Full-Surround Perception BAIC Group has stated that the Arcfox Alpha S (L3) integrates 34 high-performance sensors, including three LiDAR sensors, enabling 360-degree full-surround environmental perception. The sensor fusion system allows the vehicle to accurately detect and interpret complex driving environments in real time.
Aviation-Inspired Redundancy for System Safety The Arcfox Alpha S (L3) adopts aviation-grade safety design principles, implementing end-to-end redundancy across critical systems including perception, decision-making, steering, braking, communications, power supply, and positioning.
This multi-layered redundancy ensures that even in extreme scenarios where a single subsystem fails, backup systems can immediately take over, maintaining basic vehicle safety and protecting occupants under fault conditions.
Traceable Data Recording and Extensive Validation The vehicle is also equipped with a fully traceable autonomous driving data recording system, capable of securely capturing complete vehicle and system states during ADS activation. This supports post-event analysis, responsibility determination, and continuous system optimization.
According to BAIC, the Arcfox Alpha S (L3) has completed over 800,000 kilometers of equivalent testing mileage, achieving comprehensive coverage of scenarios within its designed operational domain. The validation process included simulation testing, closed-course testing, and real-world road testing, along with extensive evaluations of functional safety, intended functionality safety, cybersecurity, data security, and OTA update safety.
BAIC notes that these large-scale, multi-dimensional tests have demonstrated the reliability and safety of the Arcfox Alpha S (L3) autonomous driving system, providing a valuable industry reference for the mass production and deployment of L3 conditional autonomous vehicles.
