Huawei ADS (Automated Driving System) has emerged as one of the most advanced intelligent driving systems in China. At the Huawei ADS 3.0 launch event, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business, boldly claimed that Huawei ADS has surpassed Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, positioning it as the best intelligent driving system globally.
But what exactly does Huawei ADS 3.0 offer to drivers? How does it compare to Tesla’s FSD in terms of strengths and weaknesses? This article provides an in-depth analysis of Huawei ADS 3.0.
What's Park-to-Park Intelligent Driving
The most notable improvement in Huawei ADS 3.0 over its predecessors is its significantly enhanced urban autonomous driving capability. Unlike earlier versions that primarily focused on highway scenarios, ADS 3.0 can now navigate complex urban environments, handling traffic lights, pedestrians, and non-motorized vehicles with ease. The hardware has also seen substantial upgrades, featuring higher-precision sensors and more powerful processors.
Thanks to these advancements, Huawei ADS 3.0 enables “Park-to-Park” intelligent driving, meaning it can handle driving from the starting parking spot to the destination parking space without manual intervention. This makes it one of the few systems globally to achieve this level of automation. Furthermore, ADS 3.0 boasts advanced automatic parking features, capable of navigating parking lots and finding spots independently. Drivers simply need to press a button, and the system handles the rest—from departure to arrival.
Curious about the driving experience with ADS 3.0? Check out this test video:
In this video, a Stellato S9 equipped with Huawei ADS 3.0 showcases smooth and natural driving behavior. The car accelerates, decelerates, turns, and overtakes seamlessly, even anticipating oncoming vehicles with human-like intuition. The time taken to reach the destination is almost identical to that of a human driver.
How Does Intelligent Driving Improve the Driving Experience?
A well-designed intelligent driving system like ADS 3.0 can significantly reduce driver fatigue. Whether for daily commuting or long road trips, drivers previously had to remain constantly alert. Vehicles equipped with ADS 3.0 can handle extended periods of autonomous driving, allowing drivers to cover over 1,000 km in a day, dramatically improving travel efficiency.
Moreover, intelligent driving enhances parking efficiency. With the aid of high-precision sensors, ADS 3.0 can park better than most human drivers, minimizing the need for multiple adjustments and reducing the risk of scrapes and bumps. The success rate for parking is also noticeably higher.
In terms of active safety, intelligent driving outperforms traditional driver-assistance systems by mitigating more risks. For example, the vehicle’s collision avoidance capabilities have been upgraded to detect and avoid pedestrians and cyclists approaching from diagonal angles. During reverse maneuvers, it can identify obstacles and automatically brake to prevent collisions. In situations where Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) alone may not prevent a rear-end collision, the system can quickly change lanes to avoid impact.
As Huawei ADS technology continues to mature, more drivers are embracing it. What started as a cautious trial for many has now become a daily driving habit. By 2024, Huawei ADS had 412,100 active users, with a total annual intelligent driving mileage of 1.2 billion kilometers. Some users drove over 100,000 km in a single year using the system, and the intelligent parking assist feature was used 80 million times.
Huawei ADS vs. Tesla FSD: Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths of Huawei ADS 3.0:
• Enhanced Sensor Fusion for Greater Reliability:
Huawei ADS 3.0 is equipped with 12 high-precision sensors, including LiDAR, 4D millimeter-wave radar, and HD cameras. In contrast, Tesla’s FSD relies solely on eight HD cameras for a vision-only approach. The multi-sensor fusion in ADS 3.0 enables 3D environmental reconstruction and precise distance measurement, offering superior performance in challenging conditions like nighttime and foggy weather.
• Comprehensive Intelligent Parking Features:
Huawei ADS 3.0 supports various parking modes, such as remote parking, customizable parking assistance, and valet parking in complex environments. Tesla FSD’s parking capabilities are more limited in terms of versatility and convenience.
• Superior Active Safety:
ADS 3.0 excels in preemptively identifying potential hazards and executing precise emergency braking. It also includes a misacceleration prevention feature. Tesla FSD, on the other hand, has faced criticism for issues like running red lights or mistakenly entering toll lanes during tests.
• Optimized for Chinese Traffic Regulations:
Huawei ADS 3.0 is specifically tailored for Chinese traffic laws and road conditions, ensuring better adaptability in the local environment. Tesla FSD may encounter difficulties in China due to its less optimized approach to local traffic nuances. Elon Musk has even acknowledged that dedicated bus lanes in China pose a significant challenge for FSD.
Weaknesses of Huawei ADS 3.0:
• Dependency on Manual Data Labeling:
The fusion perception network in ADS 3.0 relies on manual data labeling, which may affect system performance depending on the quality of the annotations. Tesla FSD, in contrast, eliminates the need for manual labeling by using raw environmental perception data to train its neural networks directly.
• Limited Global Usability:
Huawei ADS 3.0 has less accumulated driving data in North America and Europe compared to Tesla, which may result in slower adaptation to unique road conditions and driving habits in these regions.
Conclusion
Huawei ADS 3.0 marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Huawei’s autonomous driving technology. While its global usability still needs enhancement, especially outside China, its performance within the country is outstanding and brings the vision of fully autonomous driving closer to reality. The future of intelligent driving looks promising, with Huawei ADS leading the charge.
Senior Writer The quest for automotive knowledge began as soon as the earliest memories. Various sources information, even questionable ones, have been explored including video games, television, magazines, or even internet forums. Still stuck in that rabbit hole.
