Alibaba and SAIC have joined forces to launch an all-new automotive brand called Zhiji Auto / IM. Set to become China’s latest premium electric vehicle maker, the company will have a lineup that includes a stylish sedan and crossover. The sedan features a streamlined design and an intelligent lighting system which reportedly consists of 2.6 million pixels of light. They can be used to show animations as well as the charging status.
Besides the high-tech lights, the sedan
has flush-mounted door handles and aerodynamic wheels. We can also see a
panoramic glass roof, a roof-mounted sensor pod and full-width taillights. The
upscale styling continues in the cabin as drivers will find semi-aniline
leather, wood trim and metallic accents. The sedan has also been equipped with
dual pane windows and electric closing doors.
Those features are nice, but they’re
largely overshadowed by a 39-inch widescreen display that rises out of the
dashboard and is broken up into three different sections. If that wasn’t enough
screen space, there’s a secondary 12.8-inch display that ramps out of the
center console like in the 2021 Mercedes S-Class.
Speaking of technology, the car has been
equipped with 15 high-definition cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors and five
millimeter wave radars. They’re used for the semi-autonomous driving system and
Tesla-like summon feature. At the end of the year, IM will reportedly offer
point-to-point autonomous driving. Details are limited and it’s reportedly
dependent on government approval.
However, NVIDIA confirmed the vehicles use
their DRIVE Orin compute platform and have multiple Orin SoCs. They allow for
“500 to 1,000+ TOPS [trillion operations per second] of performance for
automated and autonomous capabilities in addition to in-cabin personalization
that is continuously upgradable over-the-air for a truly software-defined
experience.”
On the performance front, there are two
electric motors which give the vehicles all-wheel drive as well as a combined
output of 536 hp and 700 Nm of torque. This will
enable the sedan to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. A 93
kWh battery comes standard, while a 115 kWh battery will also be available.
With the latter, the sedan will reportedly have a range of up to 874
km in the NEDC cycle.
Interestingly, the car is set to come with the world’s first mass-produced high-speed wireless electric vehicle charger. It charges at up to 11 kW and can give the car a range of 70-80 km in as little as an hour. Getting back to performance, the vehicles ride on an aluminum architecture and feature chassis tuning by Williams. We can also expect an adaptive damping system and rear wheel steering. The sedan will be showcased at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, while the crossover will follow in 2022.
