Huawei saves dog from Porsche Panamera

Huawei has demonstrated a Porsche Panamera being controlled by its Mate 10 Pro. In the process, it is saving dogs that wander onto the road.

The ‘RoadReader’ project pushes the boundaries of Huawei’s object recognition technology and puts the learning capabilities, speed and performance of its AI-powered devices to the test.

Unlike other driverless cars, which simply detect obstacles Huawei has used a Mate 10 Pro smartphone to transform a Porsche Panamera into a driverless vehicle that doesn’t just see, but crucially, understands its surroundings.

This means that can it can distinguish between 1,000s of different objects including a cat and a dog, a ball or a bike and learn to take the most appropriate course of action.

Most autonomous cars currently being developed rely on the computing power of purpose-built chips developed by third-party technology providers.

Huawei has used technology already available in its smartphones, demonstrating its superior functionality and ability to stand up to even the most advanced technology developed for use in self-driving cars.

“Our smartphone is already outstanding at object recognition. We wanted to see if in a short space of time we could teach it to not only drive a car, but to use its AI capabilities to see certain objects, and be taught to avoid them” said Andrew Garrihy, Chief Marketing Officer, Huawei Western Europe. “If our technology is intelligent enough to achieve this in just five weeks – what else can it make possible?”

Huawei will be showcasing the RoadReader project and the vehicle’s capabilities at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (MWC) from 26 February to 1 March 2018.