Integrated software and hardware + independent research and development, this Chinese brand car is impressive

The core points of this article (too long to read the version)

1. Boyue Pro is equipped with the GKUI 19 Jike intelligent ecosystem developed by Yikatong, with integrated software and hardware development, achieving A major upgrade in the intelligence of Boyue's car series;

2. It has a high level of in-car entertainment and human-computer interaction, and is at the forefront of evaluated models;

3. A large number of innovations have been made in in-car entertainment and cockpit intelligent control, and some functions have originality and practical value;

4. Represents the development direction and level of Geely Automobile's intelligence.

Since its launch in 2016, Geely Boyue has achieved very good market results. However, as time has passed, Boyue has gradually begun to feel the competitive pressure from competing products. Especially today as product intelligence continues to be upgraded, the degree of intelligence in the cockpit has a great impact on consumer decision-making. Therefore, in 2019, Boyue was also upgraded and transformed into Boyue Pro.

The Boyue Pro is equipped with the GKUI 19 vehicle system independently developed by Geely. The computing power of the GKUI 19 system comes from the "E01 chip" of Geely's technology company Yikatong, which can be said to be the Boyue Pro's. "Super brain".

Precisely because Boyue adopts the results of independent research and development in both software and hardware, it can also provide a more in-depth experience in intelligent car control than other Chinese brands.

In addition, GKUI 19 also brings us many surprises in terms of content ecology and intelligent interaction. Please continue reading for details.

Many car companies choose to cooperate with Internet giants like BAT. On the one hand, it is easy to be hijacked by a single source ecologically. On the other hand, due to reasons such as confidentiality and the inability to fully open the interface, it will also make someone These functions can only remain on the surface and cannot meet the deep-seated needs of users.

Since Yikatong is a company owned by Geely, the Boyue Pro’s smart cockpit can be said to be independently developed within the Geely system, with better compatibility and coordination of software, hardware and various functions. It is stronger, and the interface is more open, so it can also go deeper into some car control functions, such as the richness of voice car control and the perfection of customization of various functions.

In addition, maybe Geely thinks that GKUI 19 is good enough, but the car does not support the CarPlay/CarLife mobile screen projection function. Judging from future trends, car opportunities will become more and more perfect, and the experience will become better and better. Therefore, the screen projection function of mobile phones will become increasingly marginalized. Indeed, many brands have already abandoned this function.

1. The overall speed performance is good, but the cold start of the car is slow

As usual, we first test the speed performance of the cockpit. The specific test results are as follows:

< p>GKUI 19 is based on the Android system, and the cold start speed of the car is obviously slow. We have tested it several times and the time is more than 20 seconds, which will still cause a certain amount of anxiety for impatient users.

In addition, Boyue Pro is equipped with three types of maps: Amap, Baidu and Tencent. When testing the navigation startup time, we also tested each map software, and finally scored based on the average time.

Since different software exists in the car in the form of independent APPs and needs to be matched with the car system, the overall startup time is still slightly delayed. Compared with the Haval H6 we tested before, the H6 vehicle system cooperates with Baidu. The system and map software are both provided by Baidu. The matching is better and the startup speed is faster. Of course, compared with the Boyue Pro, which is a completely independently developed car-machine system, each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

2. Equipped with three types of maps to meet different user needs

Unlike most other brand products, the original ecology of Boyue Pro car and machine is equipped with three maps: AutoNavi, Baidu and Tencent. map, giving users the right to choose, and meeting the usage habits of different users.

All three types of maps have been adapted and integrated with the car, rather than simply adding a third-party map APP. Voice interaction can control the currently activated map. No matter which map the user uses, the experience is very good and there is no too obvious difference.

3. The music and audio ecology is rich and open, and the aggregation capabilities are average

In terms of content ecology, Boyue Pro is relatively rich and open, for example: music applications have companions Tingqing, QQ Music, Kuwo Music, Kugou Music, Singba, Aiquting, etc. Audio applications include Himalaya, Mango Listening, Listening Partner, Tencent News, Jixun Radio, etc. Video applications are mainly Tencent Video Car Machine version. See the table below for details:

Although the content is relatively rich, compared with navigation applications, the degree of integration between music applications and cars is obviously relatively low. Third-party applications such as QQ Music cannot be directly controlled by voice. If you search for songs by voice, the system will use the built-in listening companion to play it by default. The song library of the listening companion is relatively small, and there are many missing songs, which will cause problems. causing some inconvenience to users.

Broadcasting, audio, etc. have a certain content ecology that can meet basic user needs. The specific voice search situation is as follows:

Boyue Pro’s in-car video ecology is relatively simple. Only supports Tencent Video and does not support voice search. The review ecology has some integration in the navigation, the game ecology only has simple idiom solitaire, and the tourism ecology is completely lacking. In addition, the car and APP also have a certain car owner service ecology, but their practicality is relatively average.

4. The voice car control and information query capabilities are strong, and the voice interaction ability can be "trained"

The software and hardware of the GKUI system are developed by Yikatong, which can be said to be a self-contained system , also has its own distinctive features in voice interaction.

①? Strong car control capabilities

Yikatong is a company owned by Geely. Geely will obviously be more generous with the interfaces open to "its own people" in car control, so Boyue Pro's voice car control capabilities are relatively strong. Some specific test examples are as follows:

It can be seen that in addition to lights and wipers, Boyue Pro can also control functions such as seats through voice. It can be said that the degree of control is already very high.

②? Good comprehensive voice ability and strong translation ability

We have also prepared a large number of use cases to test the comprehensive ability of voice interaction. The specific test results are shown in the table below:

< p> It can be seen that in terms of natural language understanding, Boyue Pro has insufficient ability to distinguish keywords such as "eat" and "listen", and it cannot accurately judge whether it is similar to querying the weather or expressing mood, but this is a difficult point. , not many voice systems can fully withstand the test.

In terms of information query, Boyue Pro has certain query capabilities, especially hotel information and supports follow-up operations, but it is lacking in geographical information, yellow pages query, etc.

Boyue Pro has pretty good functions such as mathematical calculations, unit conversion, and date query, and can basically handle them well.

It is worth mentioning that Boyue Pro’s powerful translation capabilities not only support multi-language translation, but also support voice broadcast in some languages. Among the models that have been tested, the language translation capabilities are second to none.

③? Part of the interaction is very user-friendly

If you issue the command "turn the volume to 100%" while driving, the car will feedback "The maximum volume will affect driving safety. Help Please adjust the volume to 70%."

In addition, if you say "I want to watch the stars" during the day, the car will respond "Let's watch the stars together at night."

④? Small shortcomings in voice interaction

First, the voice customization function is weak. In terms of voices, there are two women and one man, with 3 voices to choose from. The speaking speed and greetings cannot be adjusted, which is a bit monotonous.

Secondly, it can carry out simple multi-round conversations, but the recognition ability during the conversation is weak, and it often fails to recognize.

Thirdly, the emotional expression of voice interaction is still blunt. Perhaps Geely itself is aware of this problem, so it has specially set up the "AI Magic Book" function to allow users to "train" voice AI through the AI ??Magic Book and enhance the interactive capabilities of the car and the machine.

5. The ability to connect car and mobile phone application accounts is strong, but there is a lack of unified account management

Accounts for navigation, music, video, audio and other applications all have perfect ability to connect. After the account is logged in to the car, collections, history and other information can be completely synchronized, which provides users with great convenience in use.

However, although the Cheji account can be associated with Baidu, WeChat and Alipay accounts for login, it is not associated with each application account. Each application account is logged in independently and cannot be managed uniformly. It is considered a small It's a small regret.

As a fuel model, the Boyue Pro's cockpit controls are generally more in line with traditional car usage habits. The steering wheel's function buttons, automatic driving assistance activation, gear selection and other operations are not too complicated. As a new and innovative feature, a row of air-conditioning physical control buttons is also thoughtfully arranged below the central control screen to facilitate users to perform quick operations.

In terms of using various functions, ordinary consumers can get started easily and smoothly, and the learning cost is not high. For the voice interaction function, the car has a built-in AI magic book that specifically strengthens the teaching of voice functions. As long as you carefully read the teaching content, you will be able to understand most of the voice operations.

In addition, during the voice interaction process, the car will also actively prompt the user to inform the user of the instructions that can be issued, making the interaction more efficient and smooth.

1. Rich car and machine interface themes and wallpapers

Due to the Android underlying system used by GKUI, the use of the car and machine is closer to the feeling of a mobile phone, and many gameplays are similar to those of mobile phones. feel.

Boyue Pro provides a wealth of car and machine themes and wallpapers for users to download and use. Users can choose various theme styles with different colors such as technology style, Republic of China style, constellation theme, festival theme, etc. according to their preferences. They can change the "skin" of their car and machine at any time. They can also match it with different wallpapers to make their car and machine more beautiful. Decorate it more in line with personal preferences to create a personalized car experience.

Of course, the shortcomings are also obvious. The rich colors brought by the theme style sometimes have some side effects, and it will inevitably make people tired after watching it for a long time.

2. The overall feeling of the cockpit is consistent with the brand tone

Boyue Pro has put a lot of effort into the creation of the cockpit. From the overall layout and details, it is based on technology and In addition to the sense of luxury, some of the Geely brand's own design elements are also injected, such as the zigzag patterns throughout the interior, chrome decorative strips on each component, stitching on the leather seams, decorative panels with brushed metal texture, etc. .

Looking at the details, it does feel pretty good, but the overall style is not impressive. There are not many uniquely identifiable features, and the direction of technological style and luxury style is not clear enough. The two are intertwined. There are some entanglements revealed in it, reflecting the ambiguity of Chinese brands in design.

Although the overall score of Boyue Pro in terms of technology and luxury is not high, this style is relatively consistent with Geely’s tone and complements the price of the product, which is enough to satisfy this demand. A level of consumer vanity.

During our entire testing process, we did not encounter any faults or software BUGs, and the navigation and in-car entertainment software also ran normally. However, the voice occasionally woke up by mistake, and the reason for the false wakeup was unknown.

The instrument panel and APP are relatively comprehensive and timely reminders of abnormal vehicle status, and car owners can discover problems with the vehicle at the first time. While the vehicle is driving, nearby vehicles will also be displayed on the HUD screen in the form of red dots to assist the driver in making safe distance judgments.

However, there are no E-Call and B-Call physical buttons in the car. In an emergency, the rescue service number can only be dialed from the car machine, which is really inconvenient.

Boyue Pro’s innovation score reached 65 points, which is a very high level among the tested models and can be said to have exceeded our expectations. Among them, there are also some very practical functions.

1. Schedule management (5 points)

It realizes the linkage between car, mobile phone APP and mobile calendar, and can be set through voice. It is a very practical function that can be used It’s also very convenient.

2. Navigation vehicle/WeChat interconnection (10 points)

This function solves the interconnection between mobile phone location sharing and vehicle navigation, which is convenient and practical.

3. 360 Auto Manager (5 points)

Inherent problems caused by the Android system. If the memory usage of mobile phones is high, use 360 ??Mobile Phone Manager; if the memory usage of car phones is high, use 360 ??Car Manager.

4. AI Magic Book (3 points)

The reason why 5 points are not given is that this function can only make voice conversations more natural and interesting, but it cannot affect cockpit intelligence for the time being. Implementation of control.

5. Cao Cao Hitchhiking (3 points)

This innovation directly connects Geely’s online ride-hailing business, which is simply good news for ride-hailing drivers. However, considering the scope of application Relatively narrow, as well as the current environment of the ride-hailing business, I give it 3 points.

Other innovation items and scores:

Cheyun Research Institute’s comments:

Boyue Pro’s final score of 720 points is considered a good result. Among the models tested, it is also at the upper-middle level.

The results of converting the scoring system into scores based on cockpit function items are as follows:

It can be seen that the cockpit intelligence of Boyue Pro is based on independent development and in-depth customization. , in-vehicle entertainment and human-computer interaction have good performance, and have rich innovative functions.

Compared with the new car-making forces, although Geely is a traditional car company, it has made advance plans in the direction of automobile intelligence. Yikatong is a technological innovation enterprise strategically invested by Geely Holding Group and independently operated. The outstanding performance of GKUI 19 intelligent system and E01 chip on Boyue Pro also gave researchers a refreshing feeling and made us more aware of Chinese brands. We have a new understanding of our independent research and development and innovation capabilities.

Relying on independent research and development and software and hardware integration, Geely can further strengthen its advantages in this area in the future. First, it can improve the matching between the chip and the software system, making the system faster and smoother; second, it can open up more hardware interfaces to make vehicle intelligent control functions richer and more complete, from cockpit intelligence to vehicle intelligence. Third, we can get rid of dependence on external suppliers, become self-reliant and self-reliant, and avoid the hidden dangers of constraints.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.