EV Maker Li Auto Partners with Smartphone Maker Honor

Chinese smartphone maker Honor and electric vehicle maker Li Auto have entered into a strategic partnership, the two companies announced on Friday. Li Auto owners will be able to use their Honor Magic4 phones to unlock their vehicles with the sensorless feature. The system requires users to have at least the UI 6.0 operating system installed.

Honor released its upgraded smart assistant YOYO at the new product launch conference on March 17th. Owners of Honor smartphones with the Magic UI 6.0 OS can implement intelligent driving reminders and remote car control functions provided by YOYO.

After the owner binds their Honor smartphone with the vehicle, YOYO can learn the commuting habits of the owner and subsequently provide an accurate prediction on the duration of the commute depending on the time of the day. The system can also  provide remote car control and automatic navigation services for the owner.

The control card on the phone screen will also display charging status, the remaining charging time, cruising range and other information of the vehicle. Li Auto owners can check the status of the vehicle and control the windows and air conditioning via the card.

Li Auto, which is currently only available as the Li ONE, announced on March 23 that it will increase its price by 11,800 yuan ($1,855) to 349,800 yuan from the current 338,000 yuan effective April 1. Customers who have already paid a deposit will not be affected.

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Further, Li Auto will officially launch their new SUV L9 on April 16, with a price range of 450,000 yuan – 500,000 yuan. It is expected that Honor’s smartphone will also be able to be bound to the vehicle. The phones that current run the Magic UI 6.0 OS include the Honor Magic 4 series, Magic 3 series, and Honor 50 series.