Huawei is pushing the boundaries of autonomous driving, setting its sights on a significant L3 rollout by 2027. Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei’s Smart Car Solutions Business Unit, shared the company’s ambitious roadmap at the 2025 World New Energy Vehicle Congress (WNEVC 2025) in Hainan, China.
Current Milestones and Impressive Stats
Huawei’s Qiankun intelligent driving system is already making waves. It’s found in over one million vehicles across 28 models, partnering with brands like Harmony Intelligent Mobility, Avatr, Deepal, and Voyah. These aren’t just showpieces either, the system has logged over 5 billion kilometers of assisted driving. Impressively, it’s facilitated more than 280 million automated parking maneuvers and helped steer clear of 2.71 million potential collisions. Beyond driving, the HarmonyOS-based cockpit, which taps into the MoLA architecture, is a hit with users. Its voice assistant has been activated a staggering 238 million times by August 2025, handling nearly 70 million voice-guided navigation searches.
The Three Waves of Autonomous Evolution
Jin laid out Huawei’s strategic “three waves” for autonomous driving. The first, electrification, spanning 2015-2022, focused on making travel cheaper by swapping gas for electric power. We’re currently in the second wave, intelligence (2022-2027), where the goal is to boost safety and user experience. This means smart algorithms that ease the driver’s load and drastically cut accident risks. The third wave, automation, kicks off in 2027. This era promises to redefine safety entirely and unlock entirely new ways to move, making transportation way more efficient. XPeng is also making strides in this area with their L4 robo-cars.
Huawei’s Autonomous Driving Roadmap
Looking at the tech side of things, Huawei plans to unleash its ADS 4 system in 2025. This will include a commercial L3 solution specifically designed for highway driving. By 2026, the company aims for widespread L3 highway deployment and will even begin L4 urban pilot programs, assuming regulatory green lights. Then, in 2027, with both highway and urban Navigation Cruise Assist (NCA) functions rolling out broadly, Huawei expects L3 to become commonplace, with L4 capabilities starting to go commercial. This period should see a broader launch of robotaxis and logistics services, truly expanding the reach of L3 and L4 technologies. This rapid advancement highlights China’s aggressive move in the EV space, as showcased by recent sales figures like China’s NEV market surge. The WNEVC, organized by an array of notable Chinese government and industry bodies, continues to be a crucial platform for shaping the future of new energy and intelligent vehicles.
