Huawei highlights Luxeed S7 sedan at tech conference

More than 4,000 applications are now using HarmonyOS system, a Huawei-backed system widely used in smartphone, laptop and car and make them connected, the tech giant said at a conference on Thursday.

Huawei launched autonomous driving system Huawei ADS at the conference, which debuts in the new Luxeed S7 car from the electric vehicle (EV) brand created by Huawei and Chery. It costs from 249,800 yuan (US$34,694).

Richard Yu, head of Huawei's automotive business, spent the majority of his time at the conference to introduce the Luxeed S7, the first sedan in the Chinese tech giant's joint effort with a local carmaker, featuring HarmonyOS.

Yu seemed to be facing pressure from competitors, though Huawei-backed Aito sales have grown rapidly. He called the Chinese electric market "Juan (卷)," meaning a rat race with fierce competition, when revealing the price of the S7.

Xiaomi started sales of the SU7 last month, a sleek, four-door, C-class sedan costing from 215,900 yuan, lower than most Huawei-backed cars.

US giant Apple withdrew from its "Project Titan" self-driving car initiative recently. While Chinese tech giants like Huawei and Xiaomi are stepping into the booming but crowded market.

During the conference, Huawei also released new Matebook laptops with AI Space, which contains over 100 AI-powered applications. Yu said the laptop was lighter than the Apple Macbook Air and more powerful than the Macbook Pro.

P70, a highly-anticipated flagship smartphone, was not mentioned at the conference.

Huawei is going to host the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC 2024) in Guangdong Province in June, which is expected to bring more updates on HarmonyOS.