Huawei: the future of the automotive industry

Driving a smart electric car? Today it’s possible thanks to the IAS (Intelligent Automotive Solutions) technology developed by Huawei, one of the leading companies in Information and Communication Technology that’s now also revolutionizing the automotive world.

In this industry, Huawei stands out in the market by developing solutions and technologies for advanced driving systems, A/R displays, intelligent dashboards, connectivity, and cloud services for an increasingly smart and safe driving experience. Among the many software technologies developed by the company, the use of the HarmonyOS operating system (the same utilized in all Huawei devices) allows for total integration with the Chinese giant's product ecosystem. This uniqueness makes Huawei the ideal partner for car makers who want to innovate the driving experience with AI and latest generation technologies.

 

 

Cosmico + Huawei 🚀

Numerous Eastern and Western brands have decided to leverage Huawei’s technology to develop state-of-the-art electric vehicles. In Italy, Huawei's MARC (Milan Aesthetic Research Center) is at the forefront of designing user experiences by focusing its efforts on devices as well as the automotive sector. Leading the UX team is Sebastiano Boni, Head of User Experience at MARC. When the Huawei team started working on the automotive project, they lacked a figure with specific characteristics (someone who had already worked in the digital sector and had experience in the automotive industry), and they needed one quickly. To find the right fit, Huawei chose Cosmico.

We selected a Designer who, for more than 6 months, has been working remotely in Huawei’s UX team. She is responsible for designing graphics and new features for the technologies developed by the Chinese company. It’s a project with unique characteristics: working on the operating system of a connected electric car is quite rare, especially in Italy. This requires certain skills that are difficult to find.

Cosmico found these skills and also offered the talent an important opportunity for growth. Thanks to the massive influx of digital technologies, the automotive sector has truly become an incredible field of experimentation that gives new and unimaginable opportunities.

 

A new concept of driving

With the emergence of next-generation electric vehicles, people now expect an experience similar to the one they have with smartphones. They want to interact in the same way and have access to the same type of services. This is a radical shift from how automobiles have been traditionally conceived, especially in the Western world.

The right designers to face this kind of challenge are the highly specialized ones. However, it’s often not enough that they’ve worked in other automotive companies, no matter how well-established the brands are. Experience in the "legacy" world, where the methods of making cars are highly traditional, can actually hinder creativity. In that context, the main focus is on engineering and mechanics while now the emphasis is shifting towards the technological and digital aspects of software.

 

Why we believe in Huawei

Nowadays everyone knows how to create a smartphone as well as a simple electric car. Today the real challenge lies in working on the software. When software becomes such an important component in an object such as a car, there’s a need for new skills that did not exist before, and new scenarios open up: the car ceases to be just a means of transportation, going from point A to point B, and becomes a technological object that’s part of a much larger ecosystem. Offering products that are non-polluting as well as increasingly innovative and captivating will make the transition to sustainable practices faster and smoother. It’s a technology serving the urgencies of our time, capable of satisfying the needs of both people and those of the environment.