Zeekr to give away its most advanced driverless tech

Zeekr has announced it will launch its most advanced driver assistance systems yet via a free over-the-air update, allowing current owners of its model line-up to unlock new and more advanced features.

The Geely-owned brand has yet to announce a specific date for Australia, saying only that it would be deployed in the coming months, but once downloaded all Zeekr vehicles will have the brand’s latest ‘G-Pilot’ technology.

G-Pilot adds a General Automated Evasion System (G-AES) and Full-Capacity Vehicle-to-Parking (V2P).

G-AES is said to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence to allow Zeekr cars to auto-steer around unexpected obstacles at speeds of up to 130km/h.

V2P, meanwhile, will allow Zeekr vehicles to automatically search for empty parking spaces and then park autonomously.

The most advanced autonomous features will also be rolled out on the firm’s flagship 9X plug-in hybrid, which is thought to be under consideration for Australia.

Once G-Pilot has been installed on the Zeekr 9X, it will provide Level 3 (hands off, eyes off the road) autonomous driving capability.

The reason the Zeekr X and Zeekr 009 won’t get the full autonomous tech is because they both miss out on the dual Nvidia Drive AGX Thor chips.

Announcing it would continue to evolve the G-Pilot throughout the lifespan of its vehicles, Zeekr says the 9X will one day be capable of driving from one destination to another without any driver input.

Set to be unveiled in the coming months, the new 5.2m-long Zeekr 9X is a similar size to a Range Rover, and is thought to have been developed alongside the large Lynk & Co 900, which also falls under the Geely umbrella.

Beneath the skin, the 9X’s turbocharged 1.5-litre or 2.0-litre combustion engine will be combined with two electric motors and a large battery to provide more than 620kW of power and a long EV-only range.

Zeekr’s decision to give away its driverless tech is in stark contrast to the high charges paid by Tesla owners for that brand’s Full Self Driving tech.

It also comes just a month after BYD said it would launch its ‘God’s Eye’ autonomous driving aids via an over-the-air update at no extra cost to owners.

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