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Recently, the Chongqing Science and Technology Awards for 2023 were announced, and Chongqing Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd. won the Enterprise Technology Innovation Award. Technological innovation is the key to developing new quality productivity and achieving high-quality development. In the five years since its establishment, the company has obtained 20 authorized patents and 26 software copyrights, and its research and development results have been applied to more than 20 models of about 2 million vehicles under Changan's Gravity, Deep Blue, and Qiyuan brands.

Chongqing Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd. team. Photo by correspondent Chen Li

Software Defined Car

Seize the opportunity of new energy vehicle development

In recent years, with the integration of the information revolution and the energy revolution, the automotive industry has transformed towards intelligence, electrification, networking and sharing, accelerating the upgrade from "hard to soft", and software-defined cars have become a trend.

"Software-defined vehicles (SDA) promote the decoupling of automotive hardware and software, so that the functions of the car are no longer limited to fixed hardware configurations. Through software updates and iterations, a higher-level intelligent experience and a driving experience that is tailored to each individual and always new can be achieved," said a relevant person in charge of Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd.

It is in this context that Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd. came into being, and it is also the core component of Changan Automobile's "Third Entrepreneurship - Innovation and Entrepreneurship Plan".

"We hope to take advantage of the development of new energy vehicles, build core technological competitiveness through software, and promote the company's transformation into a smart and low-carbon travel technology company," said the person in charge.

Since its establishment, the company has supported Changan Automobile's "Beidou Tianshu" intelligent strategy, focusing on the research and development of key software areas such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent vehicle control, and intelligent vehicle cloud. At the same time, it has promoted the development of Changan Automobile's vehicle software platform, and achieved full life cycle iteration of vehicle functions, performance, and services through software updates, exploring new business models.

20 patents, 26 software copyrights

The research and development results have been applied to more than 20 models and about 2 million vehicles

Ripple anti-pinch technology, shock absorber continuous damping control, air spring height control, torque vector control... In five years, Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd. has mastered a large number of core key technologies through independent research and development and innovation, helping Changan Automobile to continuously achieve new leaps in transformation and upgrading.

The deep blue G318 model launched this year is very popular with users for its tank U-turn function. "The tank U-turn function allows the vehicle to rotate 360 ​​degrees with the rear-wheel drive inner wheel as the dot, shortening the normal turning radius of 5.4 meters to 3.2 meters, solving the driving pain point of drivers having to make repeated and careful adjustments to exit the curve when passing through sharp or deep curves," said a staff member.

At that time, in order to test the practicality of the tank's U-turn function, the software developers followed the calibration team to Yakeshi for testing. In extremely cold weather of more than 40 degrees below zero, the staff carried out parameter matching and debugging in the snowy test site. From dawn to dusk, they tirelessly turned countless circles on the snowy square, tried countless sets of parameters, and finally successfully drew a perfect circle, and the test was successful.

The research and development of the tank U-turn function is just a microcosm. In recent years, Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd. has continuously broken through the "ceiling" of core technologies, and has now obtained 20 authorized patents and 26 software copyrights; participated in the formulation of 4 standards, and won 7 provincial and ministerial awards. The research and development results have been applied to more than 20 models of about 2 million vehicles under Changan's Gravity, Deep Blue, and Qiyuan brands.

Staff members are debugging the product. Photo provided by the company

Focus on new technologies such as AI and big data

Build full-stack automotive software development capabilities

Innovation is the primary driving force for development, and talent is the primary resource supporting development. Since its establishment, Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd. has established a system covering R&D project management, industry-university-research cooperation, technology transformation and incentives, and innovative and entrepreneurial technology management, providing a solid platform for technological innovation.

Strengthening the construction of talent echelons and introducing technology leaders are the key. The company has brought together experienced senior engineers, cutting-edge talents, and expert teams in different technical fields to build a diversified and young R&D team.

At the same time, relying on Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd., we jointly applied with Chongqing University to establish a characteristic demonstration software college for the automobile industry - Chongqing University Big Data and Software College; relying on the Industrial Internet Research Institute of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, we explored the talent training mechanism of "school-park-enterprise" to jointly build a smart car specialized and new industry college.

"In the past three years, we have successively cooperated with Tsinghua University, Chongqing University, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing University of Technology and other outstanding universities, research institutions and enterprises to undertake the Chongqing Automotive Software Key Project and Chongqing Software Challenge Project, jointly develop new technologies and new products, and rely on Changan Automobile's main plant and software and hardware engineering capabilities to promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements." said the person in charge of Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd.

At present, the company has 875 scientific and technological personnel, with an average age of no more than 30 years old. Among them, those with doctoral degrees account for 2% to 3.8%, and those with master's degrees account for as high as 34% to 44%.

The person in charge of Changan Automobile Software Technology Co., Ltd. said that in the short term, the company will focus on driving, body, power, chassis, cockpit, cloud, etc., build core product competitiveness around "experience, efficiency, and cost", enhance user experience, and create a comfortable driving environment; in the long term, it will focus on "new cars + new ecology", combine the evolution of electronic and electrical architecture, and work with domestic software ecosystem partners to jointly build full-stack development capabilities for automotive software, focus on new technologies such as AI and big data, and continue to provide users with differentiated product/functional experience in software and hardware iterations, smart experience and digital services throughout the life cycle of the vehicle.

Hualong.com reporter Liang Haonan/Text