At its fall communication meeting on November 1, Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) responded to the recent Li Auto ONE collisions by announcing two hardware upgrades.
The company committed to upgrading front suspension lower arm ball pins for vehicles manufactured off the production line on or before June 1, 2020, in order to reduce the rate of ball tip release to less than 3 percent after a crash.
For vehicles delivered on or before October 31, 2020, Li Auto will upgrade the high-strength metal chassis rear shield.
As of October 31, 2020, Li ONE had been involved in 97 front suspension crashes, 10 of which involved a front suspension lower arm ball end coming out of a ball pin.
Li Auto optimises Li ONE's driver assistance system after series of accidents
For both of these hardware upgrades, Li Auto will invite customers to complete the hardware replacement in the order in which the vehicles are delivered, with the upgrades expected to be completed within the next three months.
Li Auto also announced OTA version 2.0 and truck collision warning at the event.
As of October 2020, Li Auto has made 10 OTA upgrades. Nearly one year after delivery, Li Auto will release OTA version 2.0 software, which will provide an even better user experience.
The OTA 2.0 software is expected to be available for customer rollout in late December 2020. In 2021, Li Auto will also gradually roll out Baidu Maps, Full Duplex Voice, and other software and features that will enhance the user experience.
The software version V1.4.18, released on 30 October, upgrades Li ONE's driver assistance features to include a truck merge warning function to take into account China's highway truck merging scenarios.
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The system will automatically detect a truck on the front side of the vehicle when the user enables full-speed adaptive cruise control or lane-keeping assist.
When the system determines that the truck parallel to the collision risk, will be through the instrument panel images and sound to the driver for warning tips, to remind the driver to pay attention to the parallel to the front side of the car, ready for manual control of the vehicle, reducing the probability of an accident.
Users should be reminded again that Li ONE's Level 2 Assist function requires the driver to always be aware of abnormal conditions and to take control of the vehicle in an emergency.
CICC initiates coverage of Li Auto with 'outperform' rating and price target of $21.50
