Business | Tech on wheels

Apple can’t do cars. Meet the Chinese tech giants that can

Baidu, Huawei and Xiaomi have built thriving auto businesses

Mi Car SU7 on display at the flagship MI Home Auto store in Shanghai, China
Turning headsPhotograph: Getty Images
|Shanghai

As he screeches around corners at wildly unsafe speeds, one of the designers of the Jidu Robocar 07 calmly talks your correspondent through how the electric vehicle (EV) works. An alluring feature is its entertainment system—on which he is competing in a race-car game (thankfully, the actual car is stationary). Many of the EV’s features are controlled by voice command and there are almost no buttons or knobs. It has autonomous-driving functions, a sporty design and, its maker claims, can travel 900km on a single charge that takes 12 minutes. When it goes on sale in early September it is expected to cost just 220,000 yuan ($30,850). “It’s the future of driving,” the designer says, right as he smashes his virtual race car into a railing.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Tech on wheels”

From the August 24th 2024 edition

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