Xiaomi's first electric vehicle is the freshest version of a “smartphone on wheels”

Photo credit: Xiaomi

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has unveiled its first electric car, a sleek-looking sedan called the SU7.

Scheduled for launch in China next year, it represents another entry into an increasingly crowded electric vehicle market. It's also another attempt in this software-obsessed world to bring the technology people find in their phones to the in To reconcile what is going on in their car.

Xiaomi might have a chance. That's because the car will run Xiaomi's “HyperOS,” a new architecture the company has been working on for more than six years that is intended to be dynamic enough to power everything, including phones, smart home systems and cars. The goal is a more seamless experience where your apps and settings are always ready to use, no matter where you are.

This is by no means a new idea. It's the same pitch that Faraday Future's founder originally made many years ago when promoting his original electric vehicle project in China, then part of his technology group.

That attempt failed, but since then there have been many different attempts to get closer to a world where the software in the car is similar to the phones in our pockets. There are quite literal versions of this in Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto, which mirror a phone's software on the screen in the car. Google has also developed a version of Android that can power a car's entire infotainment system and is working with a number of automakers. Apple is doing something similar, but it's much further back, only announcing its first two customers last week.

However, trying to do everything in-house often proves complicated. Apple has been working on its own car project for years, but has repeatedly changed and shifted its focus. Volkswagen has tried to build its own powerful in-car software team, but has faced major difficulties. Tesla has developed robust in-car software for its vehicles but has resisted CarPlay and Android Auto, instead retaining control of its screens.

So Xiaomi stands out. Thanks to the emergence of a dominant electric vehicle supply chain in China, as well as the rapid advancement (and falling costs) of electric vehicle technology, it is now possible for deep-pocketed companies like Xiaomi to attempt something like building a ready-made car for its software. That's not quite the only one, as Huawei is also backing its own electric car startup in China. But Xiaomi is the most integrated company to date.

The specs look impressive on paper. The company claims a range of up to 800 km, or just under 500 miles, on a full charge, although this is within China's rosy testing cycle. This applies to the high-end model, which is based on a 101 kWh battery from the Chinese giant CATL. A base model with just 73.6 kWh capacity is said to get closer to 668 km or 415 miles on a single charge. They charge quickly (220 km in five minutes) and are fast (0-100 km/h in just 2.78 seconds). Prices will follow at a later date.

Despite all of this, the biggest challenge for Xiaomi will be the same as for any new vehicle manufacturer: designing and building cars at scale that are reliable and safe, regardless of the underlying technology, is an incredibly difficult task. With that in mind, making the car driving experience even more seamless feels like a no-brainer.