VinFast Needs All the Help
VinFast’s first steps in America have been pretty shaky. There have been teething problems with the cars, and sales collapsed dramatically last year. Still, the Vietnamese automaker isn’t giving up, but it needs all the help it can get to stay relevant.
With that, the company is ramping up tech development, particularly in the field of autonomous mobility. VinFast has saddled up with AI firm AutoBrains to get things started. The two will be collaborating on several projects, chief among which is a ‘Robo-Car’ with full self-driving capabilities.
Taking a Page from Tesla
So, what will VinFast’s FSD be like? One of the goals that the automaker wishes to achieve is to develop a camera-based autonomous driving system built at a lower cost with quicker development times. It will build on the company’s current level 2 assists and, with the help of AutoBrains, boost it from there.
It will be similar to Tesla’s approach, adapting a camera-based system with ultra-high-speed processors. But with the assistance of AI, both companies reckon they can build their own systems more quickly and at a fraction of the cost. The processor is said to be capable of performing 20 trillion operations per second. An even bolder claim is that they can develop it without the need for LiDAR, radar, or high-definition maps.
Real-World Testing?
At the time of writing, a pilot program is already underway in Vietnam. A couple of VF8 and VF9 models have been fitted with the system and are roaming around the streets of Hanoi. Mind you, it’s in a controlled environment for now, but VinFast says public road testing will be done soon.
There is no definite timeline for the public rollout yet. Perhaps it’s VinFast’s way of managing expectations. It’s better to iron out the kinks that use customers as its test subjects. VinFast’s been burned by vehicles that felt underdeveloped, and it’s safe to say the company wouldn’t want that experience all over again.
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Anton Andres
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