Huawei, the Chinese company at the centre of the US-China tech storm, is working with European, Japanese and Chinese car groups to launch self-driving vehicles as early as 2021 as it seeks to move beyond the telecoms equipment industry to embrace a broader range of artificial intelligence products.
Dang Wenshuan, Huawei’s chief strategy architect, told the Financial Times that Huawei was providing the AI backbone in several co-operative ventures including one with Audi, which is owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, and the Chinese manufacturers GAC Group, Beijing New Energy Automobile and Changan Automobile.
“From my understanding, we are working together to have a car that will be shipped in the year 2021 or 2022 using these [autonomous driving] components,” Mr Dang said. “But not only in China?.?.?.?it will also be in Europe.”