Recently DVN had the opportunity to drive the fully electric Chinese HiPhiX car with a spectacular lighting system made by Hasco Vision. The HiPhi X is somewhere between an SUV, van, and luxury sedan. The rear doors are half gull-wing, half rear-hinged. The front doors open if you approach the car with the key in your pocket, and they close if you touch the brake pedal. The seats can even move left-right. The passenger display is positioned down in the legroom and has midsize TV format. The B-pillar is equipped with a face recognition camera. This incomplete list of functions and equipment may show how unusual this car really is. In Europe it seems like a view to a possible future, but in China it has been in traffic for a year now.
The car’s HMI was in Chinese only, so we used a mobile phone translation app to operate it. This worked well, but needed a co-pilot, of course. The night drive and even more the animations while parked were more than surprising. I am in lighting business for 35 years, but I have never seen something like this.
Below each front and rear lamp, an RGB LED matrix display shows the direction indicator, reversing lamp, and many fun-functions. My personal fun-favorite out of about 20 different ones was the “fireworks” which consists of fireworks on the displays together with fireworks sound—really an eye catcher. We “fireworked” at the parking site of a restaurant before entering. Later the waitress asked if it was our car which was making firework effects.
Another special function was the U-turn indicator. After two times pushing the indicator lever at the steering wheel, a U-turn indicator appears on the display, with dynamic animation. Not allowed by UN Regulations, but really cool. This car shows what Chinese car makers are able to launch on the Chinese market. I don’t think the car’s lighting system is ready for Europe or the US but it shows what you can do with an LED communication matrix. For the GTB it is for sure worth a look. Find the details in this week’s in-depth report.