Phone-driven car unveiled

China’s telecommunications giant Huawei yesterday unveiled a smartphone-controlled car, the first of its kind, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The “RoadReader” project uses a Huawei Mate 10 phone to help control a converted Porsche Panamera which is able to detect obstacles and react to outside stimuli.

The car has the capacity to learn and select the correct action according to circumstances. 

The camera in the smartphone scans and identifies objects on road, transmitting the information to the vehicle’s automatic systems by Wi-Fi.

Huawei says the car can “distinguish between 1,000 different objects, including cats, dogs, footballs and bicycles” thanks to the smartphone’s memory.  

In a session prior to the opening of the MWC, Huawei highlighted the importance of Artificial Intelligence to the company with Ryan Ding, president of Huawei Carrier Business Group, signaling the need to “encrust Artificial Intelligence in services and networks to give more flexible services.”