Apple wants to build a car, everyone knows that, but nobody knows when, or how, or whether they'll actually pull it off. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the tech industry, Apple rival Huawei has actually built a car. They call it the 'Aito M5', and it's equipped with Huawei's HarmonyOS.
It's an SUV, par for the course, and a relatively small and compact one at that, with a wheelbase of 2.88 mt, slighly longer than the Mercedes GLB, for example. I was surprised to find out that the Aito is not an electric car, it is actually a hybrid, powered by one or two electric motors (RWD or AWD) and a 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine. According to Huawei, you can travel up 770 miles with a tank full of fuel and the battery fully charged.
In the cabin, you'll find a 15.6-inch screen with 2K resolution, powered by the Harmony OS, and integrating Petal Maps and Celia Suggestions (Huawei's 'Alexa' or 'Siri', basically). It is also fitted with a bunch of Advanced Driver-assistance Systems (ADAS), which makes the Aito a Level 2 autonomous car.
The 4WD version delivers 500 hp and does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds (the RWD version takes 4.8) and the Aito will be available – in China – starting from €34k ($38.5/£28k) for single-motor version, and €38,800 ($44/£33k) for the dual-motor version.
The question is: would you buy it?
Keyword: Apple wants to build a car, meanwhile Huawei has actually done it