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Integrated Systems And Specialized Vehicles
Integrated Systems And Specialized Vehicles
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Industrial Intelligence
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Intelligent Transportation
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Inside GATE 2026 | Fan Chengjian of Hirain Technologies: Empowering ASEAN's Intelligent Electric Transformation with Production-Proven System Capabilities
Release time:
2026-08-31 18:08
From August 26 to 28, 2026, the Global Automotive and Technology Expo (GATE) was held at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC). Dr. Fan Chengjian, President and CTO of Hirain Technologies, was invited to attend and deliver a keynote speech, joining automotive industry peers from Malaysia and across ASEAN to discuss the challenges and pathways of electrification and intelligent transformation.
"Malaysia does not need to replicate China, but it can draw on the experience and lessons from China's electrification and intelligent transformation—starting from a higher vantage point and pursuing a more efficient upgrade path."
Fan pointed out that electrification and intelligence are not a simple stacking of features, but a profound transformation of the entire vehicle system. A decade of rapid development in the Chinese market has not only delivered scale, but also accumulated a wealth of replicable experience and lessons worth avoiding. As a system-level supplier with more than 20 years of focus on automotive electronics, Hirain hopes to combine its automotive electronics capabilities—proven under the demanding conditions of the Chinese market and meeting global quality requirements—with a localized delivery system to help ASEAN automakers accelerate their transformation and upgrade.
▎Electrification Is a System Transformation, Not a Powertrain Swap
"Many people assume that electrification simply means 'replacing the engine with an electric motor and the fuel tank with a battery,'" Fan noted, calling this the most common misconception in the industry. Companies that have truly succeeded in electrification understand that the real threshold lies in systematic re-engineering across seven core dimensions: E/E architecture, thermal management, energy management, software control, charging diagnostics, functional safety, and manufacturing and after-sales. A simple swap of the power source, while neglecting the deep coordination among systems, will ultimately lead to architectural bottlenecks, runaway costs, and quality risks at the mass-production stage.
Fan emphasized that the right approach is to plan within a vehicle-level systems engineering framework from the very start of a project, advancing the architectural design of the body, powertrain, chassis, intelligent driving, and cockpit domains in parallel—rather than piecing them together after the fact. This, he noted, is one of the most important lessons Chinese automakers have learned in their electrification journey.
▎The Key to Intelligence Lies in Architecture, Not Feature Stacking
As the number of ECUs grows, wiring harnesses become increasingly complex, and version management and OTA updates become more difficult, the real challenge for automakers is not "adding features" but "building architecture." A well-designed electrical/electronic architecture (EEA), Fan explained, must strike a balance across nine dimensions: reusability, scalability, cost, robustness, technological innovation, real-time performance, functional safety and network security, manufacturing and after-sales, and energy consumption.
Architecture design must reserve headroom for the future—network resources, computing power, and hardware I/O must all be planned in advance, so that new features can be added later without painful overhauls. "Good architecture comes first; good features follow," Fan concluded. "This is the most profound lesson Chinese automakers have learned in moving from EEA 1.0 to EEA 3.0 and compressing development cycles from 36 months to 18 months."
▎Mass-Production Capability Is the Ultimate Test of Systems Engineering
"Building a demo is not hard; what is hard is making a hundred thousand—or a million—units consistently reliable," Fan said. Between a demo and mass production lie six critical gates: test coverage, version management, supplier interface matching, hardware-software change impact assessment, production consistency, and after-sales traceability.
Mass-production capability is not something to consider only after R&D is complete; the validation, manufacturing, and after-sales systems must be incorporated into the design from the moment a project kicks off. Hirain's work with global customers shows that bringing mass-production thinking forward into the early stages of R&D is the key to continuously improving new vehicle development efficiency. Choosing a partner with large-scale mass-production experience—and directly reusing development systems and quality standards proven by leading Chinese OEMs and in the European market—can significantly reduce quality risks during the production ramp-up phase.
▎Three Cooperation Models for Deep Engagement in ASEAN
Drawing on its deep involvement in architecture programs for leading global automakers, Hirain offers three cooperation models of varying depth for the ASEAN market:
- Rapid mass production with proven products: A full portfolio of production-proven controllers—covering body domain controllers, intelligent driving, new energy powertrains, chassis control, and intelligent cockpits—helps customers achieve volume delivery quickly.
- Joint development to build capabilities together: Working with customers on product definition and technology implementation, providing architecture design, software and hardware development, and test and validation capabilities to support localized adaptation for regional markets.
- Support for system and capability building: From development toolchains and test and validation systems to engineer training, local manufacturing, and supply chain quality improvement—helping customers build long-term, sustainable R&D and manufacturing capabilities.
In its cooperation philosophy, Hirain remains firmly customer-oriented—respecting the OEM's authority over vehicle definition and technology roadmaps, and leveraging its own strengths in automotive electronics products, systems engineering, test and validation, and localized manufacturing to help customers bring products to market faster and more reliably.
▎Deepening Local Presence and Accelerating Localization in ASEAN
Hirain has already established local manufacturing and R&D operations in Malaysia. The Melaka plant entered operation in 2023, providing localized production for new energy vehicle electronic products, while the Kuala Lumpur R&D center will officially open soon, with a steadily growing team providing ASEAN customers with close-at-hand engineering support and technical services.
"In Malaysia, With Malaysia, For Malaysia and ASEAN"—Fan used this phrase to sum up Hirain's ASEAN strategy: rooted in local manufacturing, local R&D, and local talent development, growing together with the regional industry, and serving ASEAN and broader markets beyond.
As the global automotive industry accelerates its shift toward electrification and intelligence, the ASEAN market is entering a critical window of opportunity. Hirain will continue to uphold its philosophy of "value innovation, customer service," leveraging production-proven system capabilities and deep localization to support the high-quality development of ASEAN's automotive industry and jointly create the future of intelligent mobility.