L3 Intelligent Driving Bids Farewell to "Night Blindness": The "Deeply Understanding the Future" AI Imaging Engine Has Been Applied in GAC | Early-stage Project

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Yuan Silai

Yingke learned that the complex light AI computational imaging engine of "Shenzhi Future" has been mass - produced and released with GAC's high - end flagship model, Haobo HL. In the future, it is expected to be extended to more than ten different GAC models.

Shenzhi Future was founded in 2017. Its main technological barrier lies in the AI ISP technology system with full - link neural networking, which enables ordinary visible - light vision sensors to present full - color, high - definition, and real - time images at night.

Overall, the company has currently established three major product lines: the Guangyu series for drone payloads, the Polar Star series for handheld imaging devices, and the Tieshi series for module products. The company's first product was officially launched in July 2022, and it has achieved a high - speed growth of over 200% in sales for three consecutive years.

The shooting effect of Shenzhi Future's handheld camera in a dark environment (Photographed by Ou Xue)

Previously, Shenzhi Future had successfully launched products such as night - vision cameras for industrial drones, handheld night - vision cameras, and observation glasses. Currently, the automotive field has become the company's most important strategic growth engine, and the company has cooperated with several domestic first - tier automakers.

"The year 2025 is the Cambrian period of intelligent driving, with various vehicle intelligent technologies booming. Smart cars will become the largest carrier of future AI algorithms. The threshold to enter this field is extremely high, but once entered, the company's growth potential will far exceed that of other fields." Zhang Qining, the founder of Shenzhi Future, told Yingke. After the relevant release with GAC Group, many mainstream automakers have actively contacted the company to seek cooperation.

Zhang Qining further stated that perception, decision - making, and control are the three elements of an intelligent agent. In the development of intelligent driving, with the maturity of decision - making and control, the accuracy and stability of perception have become the bottleneck of intelligent systems. The AI imaging engine capable of adapting to complex light will see an explosion in the perception field and will be closely coupled with intelligent driving algorithms on domain controllers and undergo rapid OTA iterations synchronously.

"Autonomous driving has reached the L3 level, but in - vehicle cameras are still at the L1 level." Zhang Qining explained. As the most important "eyes" of autonomous driving, the price of cameras has remained in the range of less than 200 yuan. The imaging adaptability is far lower than that of human eyes, which exposes intelligent driving to safety risks at night and in complex weather conditions due to the camera's inability to form clear images, remaining at the L1 level.

According to Zhang Qining, traditional ISP algorithms are based on artificial rules, resulting in poor image quality in complex light scenarios. The new - generation AI computational imaging simulates the human visual neural network computing method and can iteratively learn and continuously evolve according to the requirements of intelligent driving algorithms.

Comparison chart of two algorithms (Image source: Shenzhi Future)

AI ISP is a field with a low entry threshold but an extremely high threshold to "do well". Shenzhi Future is currently the only global artificial intelligence enterprise that has achieved a commercial closed - loop of a vehicle - grade full - process neural - networked AI imaging engine.

From a technical perspective, Zhang Qining said that the current AI imaging neural network architecture is still in the process of iteration, and there is still a relatively large room for algorithm development. It has not reached a stage suitable for chip implementation, and solidification at this time is a hindrance to algorithm development.

"Thanks to the significant growth of the automotive business, the company is expected to become the first artificial intelligence imaging company to achieve profitability in the AI ISP field this year." Zhang Qining said.