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Huawei Says Chery's Luxeed S7 Delays Will be Resolved in April

FILE PHOTO: People visit the Huawei stand at the 2024 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain February 27, 2024. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit the Huawei stand at the 2024 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain February 27, 2024. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
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Huawei Says Chery's Luxeed S7 Delays Will be Resolved in April

FILE PHOTO: People visit the Huawei stand at the 2024 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain February 27, 2024. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit the Huawei stand at the 2024 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain February 27, 2024. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo

Huawei said that a shortage of semiconductors and factory relocation issues that had delayed production and deliveries of its Luxeed S7 sedan should be resolved from next month, local media outlet Cailianshe reported on Saturday.
It quoted Huawei managing director and chairman of its smart car solutions, Richard Yu, who was speaking about the issues surrounding Chery's Luxeed S7 sedan at an annual forum organized by the EV100 think tank.
Reuters reported in January that Chinese automaker Chery and another Huawei partner, Changan Auto, had lodged complaints with Huawei over how production issues with a computing unit the tech giant manufactured had caused delays to deliveries of their flagship model.
The Luxeed S7 sedan - the first model for Chery's Luxeed EV brand - had orders of about 20,000 as of Nov. 28. Luxeed said in January that buyers could be reimbursed by up to 10,000 yuan if they were unable to pick up the car as promised. The S7 is priced from 249,800 yuan ($34,716.62).
The brand was only launched in November and had been much hyped by Huawei with Yu previously claiming the S7 would beat Tesla's luxury Model S in performance and at a price lower than the Model 3.
Yu also told the EV100 forum that its autos business unit would likely turn a profit from April after losing billions of yuan in the past year, due to strong sales of mid to high-end models built by its partners.
Huawei launched its smart car unit in 2019 with the aim that it could become the equivalent of German automotive supplier Bosch of the intelligent electric vehicle (EV) era and supply software and components to partners.
But it is the only money-losing unit among Huawei's main six and brought in only one billion yuan revenue in the first half of 2023, a fraction of the company's 310.9 billion yuan total.
Last year, Huawei announced that it would spin the unit off into a new company which will receive the unit's core technologies and resources and take investment from partners such as automaker Changan.

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Robots Set to Move beyond Factory as AI Advances

Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)
Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)
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Robots Set to Move beyond Factory as AI Advances

Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)
Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)

Today's robots perform safety checks at industrial plants, conduct quality control in manufacturing, and are even starting to keep hospital patients company.

But soon -- perhaps very soon -- these increasingly humanlike machines will handle more sophisticated tasks, freeing up people while raising complex questions about the roles of artificial intelligence that are gaining attention.

At a panel hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), experts described the next five years as a period where robots transition primarily from industrial sites to service settings, helping to address a worsening health care labor crunch.

Seeing robotics in places like theme parks or universities "will lead to the companion robot probably at the end of the decade," said Marc Theermann, chief strategy officer for robot company Boston Dynamics.

Cris Gardner, a vice president in futurecasting at AARP, predicted robots will provide emotional support as they enter homes and assist with daily tasks.

People "will own a generalized humanoid robot the way they would own a car," she said.

- Upheaval ahead? -

Dystopian prophesies of a robot-centered future have long featured in the public imagination. However, recent breakthroughs in generative AI have given more credibility to predictions of billions of humanoid robots in everyday life.

The centrality of robots in the coming years is "widely underappreciated," said a report from Abundance 360, a conference and education venture led by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis.

Robots could enable an "era of unprecedented abundance," lowering costs while freeing humans "to focus on creative and fulfilling pursuits," it said.

However, the analysis also identified nine sectors facing potential job displacement, including manufacturing, elder care, agriculture, education, and surgery.

"The speed at which multimodal generative AI and humanoid robot development is progressing, paired with the lack of public discourse on this subject, indicates that there will be significant job disruption and societal upheaval," it said.

Disputes over automation have been a recurring factor in labor negotiations, most recently involving US dockworkers, who reached a tentative agreement with a shippers group, averting a strike.

The International Longshoremen's Association permitted ports to add semiautonomous cranes only if more workers are hired, according to the Wall Street Journal.

- Worker shortages -

At CES, companies described robots as performing tasks that humans either shouldn't do because they are dangerous, or don't want to do because they are grueling, tedious, or unpleasant.

Hong Kong company R2C2 showcased industrial robots that can perform functions such as inspections at power plants and technician work on trains, according to San Wong, the company's founder and chief executive.

Working on trains involves "lots of grease everywhere, and it's dirty and hot" so turnover is high, San said.

Vehicle and equipment maker Oshkosh has used automation to phase out high-burnout jobs such as the finishing work on firetrucks, which requires workers to wear a mask and often leads to shoulder and elbow problems, said chief executive John Pfeifer.

Those workers have been shifted to other assembly line work, such as welding. While these jobs are currently safe, they may "one day" be automated, Pfeifer said.

"This has been the evolution of the economy for 250 years," he said. "People move into more productive ways to help the economy grow."

At CES, US agriculture machinery giant John Deere showcased autonomous vehicles developed partly in response to persistent farm labor shortages.

Automation allows farmers to focus on more challenging tasks, such as managing grain movement from a field to a storage area, said Deanna Kovar, president of Deere's worldwide agriculture and turf division.

"We need to continue to make sure we're evolving the skill sets of our employees, of our customers, so that they can take advantage of the technologies and not see them as a threat," she said.

AARP's Gardner noted that the aging US population points to a significant labor gap for caring for the next generation of seniors.

"The demand is going to be enormous, it can't be covered by human beings," said Gardner, who views improved robotics as key to enabling older people to stay independent for longer.