Huawei (华为) unveils new HarmonyOS-exclusive cockpit with unified phone/tablet/PC design

Launch and positioning

Huawei (华为) onstage introduced a new generation of its HarmonyOS-exclusive in-car cockpit, billed as a unified-design experience that spans Huawei phones, tablets and PCs. The system was revealed at the launch of the Hongmeng Zhixing AITO M9 series, and the company framed the cockpit as a cross-device extension of its consumer OS strategy rather than a standalone automotive UI.

Interface and interaction changes

According to Huawei, the new cockpit adopts a same-origin design shared with Huawei phones, tablets and PCs and supports free combination layouts of cards, apps and folders. The company says the interface is deliberately minimalist and interaction depth is shallowed; it has been reported that Huawei claims operation efficiency improves by 70%. The cockpit also reportedly supports 3D spatial minimal car controls and navigation features such as fuzzy-destination search, multi-point route linking and trip-conflict reminders.

AI assistant and multi-device flow

Huawei showed a built-in assistant called “Xiaoyi” (小艺), which it describes as using a pioneering “humanoid-thinking” architecture to handle instrument interpretation, vehicle-status alerts and user Q&A; it has been reported that Xiaoyi also offers proactive suggestions, cross-device collaboration and a casting feature dubbed “YiYu” for multi-device streamflow. HarmonyOS 6.1 or later on phones and tablets is required, Huawei said, for multi-end continuity and content flow between devices.

Why this matters

Why should Western readers care? For Huawei the move is part product polish and part strategic insulation: against a backdrop of U.S. export controls and supply-chain pressure, HarmonyOS has become a central pillar of Huawei’s push to reduce reliance on foreign ecosystems and to lock in users across phones, PCs and cars. Whether automakers and consumers outside Huawei’s ecosystem will embrace a proprietary, HarmonyOS-locked cockpit remains an open question.