Yu Chengdong unveils a "new weapon"

Yu Chengdong has come to shake things up again.

At the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Technology Conference on March 4, Yu Chengdong took the stage and dropped a “bomb”—dual light-path LiDAR. This is Huawei’s move to consolidate its throne amid the imminent entry of FSD into China and the rapid iteration in the intelligent driving industry.

According to the plan, the new LiDAR will first be installed in the flagship models, Wenjie M9 and Zunjie S800. The former is the sales and profit pillar of the Harmony Intelligent Mobility system, and the latter symbolizes a breakthrough to higher price ranges.

In the eyes of the outside world, Yu Chengdong wants to use more hardcore technology to add another layer of moat to his high-end flagships.

Meanwhile, the offensive into the downmarket has also begun. This time, Yu Chengdong appeared with Shangjie’s first coupe, Z7, and the shooting brake model Z7T, intending to follow the “Porsche Taycan alternative” route to capture the vast mid-range youth market.

The goal: Hold the advantage in the high-end market, and open up scale in the youth market.

For Yu Chengdong and Harmony Intelligent Mobility, crossing the million-unit mark is just the beginning. Below the stage lies a highly competitive Chinese new energy market, a reality intertwined with price wars and technology battles. The market has already started questioning the next growth curve for Harmony Intelligent Mobility.

Brandishing the Sword

In today’s auto market, LiDAR is no longer a rare configuration, but “dual light-path” still presents a technical threshold in current mass production.

Huawei Smart Vehicle Solution BU CEO Jin Yuzhi introduced that in the new LiDAR, Huawei pioneered a dual light-path architecture, achieving integrated dual focus, with two distinct laser receiving units—wide-angle and telephoto—for unified imaging.

In terms of product performance, the new generation dual light-path image-grade LiDAR improves resolution by four times over the previous 192-line LiDAR, making small object recognition more accurate. Thanks to the two focal lengths, the display can show a “picture-in-picture” effect: wide-angle for the overall scene, telephoto for precise detail feedback.

Specifically for obstacle recognition, the new dual light-path image-grade LiDAR can accurately recognize small obstacles—objects of 14 cm or above within 120 meters. The height of 14 cm was chosen because most car chassis heights on current roads are above 14 cm, according to Jin Yuzhi.

Industry insiders pointed out to Wallstreetcn that traditional LiDARs are limited to a single optical system—either wide-angle but not far (missing distant details), or telephoto but with a narrow view (missing peripheral blind spots).

The cleverness of dual light-path technology lies in integrating two independent receiving units within a single radar, fundamentally solving the dilemma of traditional LiDAR’s “can’t have it all.”

Yu Chengdong mentioned that he began developing this LiDAR when he took on the role of Car BU CEO, and it took several years from development to mass production. This new trump card will be used in their flagships—Wenjie M9 and Zunjie S800.

In the past year, Wenjie M9 has almost become the “anchor” in Huawei’s automotive map. In the 500,000-yuan SUV market, M9, with Harmony cockpit, Huawei’s advanced intelligent driving, brand endorsement, and strong marketing, became a phenomenon; Zunjie S800 carries the mission of attacking higher price points, as Huawei’s attempt at the luxury executive sedan market.

Both vehicles share significant profit attributes, even becoming volume sellers in the high-end market, strongly supporting the cash flow and brand height of Harmony Intelligent Mobility. People familiar with Harmony Intelligent Mobility told Wallstreetcn they are “cash cows” in the “Five Jie” lineup.

But the issues are also prominent. The high-end market is never won by technological superiority alone—it’s a comprehensive competition in brand, channels, service, financial capacity, and iterative ability. Industry insiders bluntly told Wallstreetcn that everyone is already focusing on the “9 series” flagships, and Yu Chengdong’s emphasis on dual light-path LiDAR at this time is, to some extent, consolidating the moat.

As intelligent driving gradually becomes a standard selling point, single LiDAR or pure vision solutions are constantly iterating—if the technology isn’t continually improved, the brand premium logic will be diluted.

Huawei’s strategy has always prioritized technological storytelling. It was so in the smartphone era, and it remains so in the automotive era.

From Harmony OS to ADS advanced intelligent driving, from electric drive systems to vehicle-machine ecosystem, every launch feels like a declaration of capability. Dual light-path LiDAR continues this narrative and sends a signal to the market: In high-end intelligent driving, Huawei still wants to be in the first tier.

Thus, on these two models that affect industry status and revenue lifelines, there can be no compromise on technology. It’s also to consolidate Harmony Intelligent Mobility’s absolute leadership in the “second half of the intelligence game,” making sure these two “cash cows” keep delivering.

Increasing Volume

But high-end is just one wing of Harmony Intelligent Mobility. On the same day, Shangjie’s first coupe Z7 debuted, sending another signal: After anchoring high-end, Harmony Intelligent Mobility is voluntarily entering the youth market and the relatively more affordable price range.

Shangjie Z7 is positioned as a stylish, tech-driven coupe targeting young users. Meanwhile, Z7T, Harmony’s first shooting brake model, emphasizes the combination of looks and spaciousness, aiming for a new balance of design and practicality. The new cars are scheduled to launch at the end of March, on a tight timetable, clearly to seize the spring auto market window.

In fact, the current Chinese new energy market is showing clear polarization.

On one hand, high-end models still enjoy some premium with brand equity and intelligent features. On the other, the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan range is the bloodiest battlefield. Price wars are ongoing, configurations rise rapidly, and consumer expectations for intelligence haven’t dropped.

Given this background, if Harmony Intelligent Mobility only defends the high end, the ceiling on scale will soon appear. The arrival of Shangjie is essentially addressing this issue.

Through more youthful design language, bolder color schemes, and more cost-effective pricing, Harmony Intelligent Mobility hopes to spread the technological advantages of Harmony cockpit and high-level intelligent driving to a broader consumer group. For Huawei, software ecosystem and user scale are always core assets.

Scale effects are magnified in the intelligent auto era.

First, hardware costs are averaged out. High-end sensors (like LiDAR, HD cameras), high-performance chips are expensive. Only with sufficient vehicle sales and massive procurement can the company gain enough bargaining power in supply chains to lower marginal costs.

Second is software development and the “data flywheel.” Huawei invests heavily in the ADS advanced intelligent driving system, and these R&D costs require more vehicles to amortize. More importantly, intelligent driving advances through deep learning, which relies on massive, rich, high-quality data.

Active travel routes of young users and complex city driving scenarios will constantly supply Huawei's cloud computing center with “nourishment,” accelerating algorithm iteration. This technology moat built on scale can’t be achieved by any single high-end brand.

Furthermore, coordination between high-end and low-end markets will enhance the ecosystem’s stickiness. A young person, upon graduating college or starting a job, might buy a Shangjie Z7 for its looks, value, and tech appeal. As he ages, accumulates wealth, and his family structure changes, when he buys his next car, he may upgrade to Wenjie M9 or even Zunjie S800, thanks to his familiarity with Harmony's seamless experience and trust in Huawei’s smart driving.

This is the dream user lifecycle management for automotive brands. Harmony Intelligent Mobility is trying to establish a solid ecological moat through brands with “Jie” in their name, so once users enter this ecosystem, it’s hard to switch to others.

Challenges

From Wenjie to Shangjie and Zunjie, Harmony Intelligent Mobility’s brand layout is becoming clearer: high-end luxury, mid-high-tech, youthful trends, multiple product lines in parallel. In a sense, Harmony is transitioning from “explosive hits” to “systematic capabilities.”

However, while the strategic blueprint is grand, Yu Chengdong and his team face significant challenges in actual implementation.

Dual operations test Harmony’s capability in resource allocation, supply chain management, and channel/service effectiveness.

Mass production and yield control of cutting-edge technologies like dual light-path LiDAR is in itself a challenge.

As the latest “new weapon,” ensuring absolute leading performance while controlling costs, making sure Wenjie M9 and Zunjie S800’s production isn’t restricted by key component shortages—these are trials for Huawei’s supply chain team.

On the other hand, Shangjie Z7 series, as models launched for the young mass market, will succeed or fail not just by product strength, but by the balance of cost and price. In the red ocean of vehicles priced in the tens or twenties of thousands, BYD, Geely, Changan, and many new brands have already established a tight net of competition.

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