How the Yijing X9 Turns Vehicle Lighting into a Safety and Interaction System

The Yijing X9’s Huawei Qiankun automotive-optics package is designed to do more than make the vehicle brighter or give it a futuristic look. It assigns light three distinct jobs: communicating with people and vehicles outside the car, presenting key information in the driver’s field of view, and creating an entertainment display inside the cabin.

In June 2026, Dongfeng and Huawei showcased the three-part package—HUAWEI XPIXEL, HUAWEI XSCENE and HUAWEI XHUD. Related reports described the Yijing X9 as the first vehicle to carry all three product lines as standard equipment. 12

What the three systems do

1. HUAWEI XPIXEL: headlights that can communicate with the road

HUAWEI XPIXEL is a 1-megapixel smart projection headlamp built around pixel-level light control. During an encounter with an oncoming vehicle, it can selectively shield the portion of the beam aimed toward the other driver instead of simply switching off the entire high beam. 34

The system is also designed to project turn-direction cues and pedestrian-warning markings onto the road, giving the vehicle a visual way to communicate with nearby road users. It supports welcome-light sequences such as “Step-by-Step Galaxy,” turning the headlamp from a fixed lighting component into a programmable exterior interface. 39

The broader idea is that a headlamp can now perform three tasks at once: illuminate the road, control glare and communicate intent. The real-world benefit, however, will depend on ambient light, road conditions, local regulations and the calibration of the production vehicle. The materials reviewed do not provide independent comparative testing.

2. HUAWEI XSCENE: a laser projector for the cabin

HUAWEI XSCENE is an in-car laser projection system. Publicly cited specifications include a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, 98% color-gamut coverage and TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light certification. The system also supports wireless phone handoff or casting, along with viewing modes for one person, two people and a “Dynamic Island” layout. 356

Its intended role extends beyond the driver. XSCENE is positioned as a cabin-entertainment feature for parked breaks, family trips and outdoor activities such as camping. Instead of relying solely on conventional built-in screens, it turns part of the vehicle into a deployable projection environment.

The quoted contrast, color-gamut and certification figures are manufacturer or media-reported specifications. They should not automatically be treated as a complete, independently measured picture-quality assessment. Viewing quality will also vary with projection distance, ambient brightness, the projection surface and the quality of the source content.

3. HUAWEI XHUD: placing driving information in the road scene

HUAWEI XHUD is an augmented-reality head-up display. It can place navigation arrows, speed-limit information and the distance to the vehicle ahead into the driver’s forward view, potentially reducing the need to look repeatedly between the road and the central display. 59

Related technical coverage also links XHUD with the explainability of assisted driving. By visually presenting elements of the system’s perception, decisions and actions, the display is intended to help occupants understand what the vehicle is detecting and how it is responding. 6

That does not mean an AR-HUD replaces the driver’s attention or responsibility. Its usefulness depends on information layout, brightness, latency, obstruction control and whether the driver correctly interprets the prompts. The available material describes the intended functionality but does not provide an independent assessment of safety gains.

Why the lighting hardware required extensive development

The X9’s own lamp design is another example of the engineering integration behind the package. The vehicle uses a “Galaxy Flow” lighting theme, including a front light bar approximately 1.83 metres long. 412

Reports say the front-light design took around 11 months and 52 rounds of iteration, with work focused on light uniformity, visual appearance, assembly precision and production feasibility. 28 That suggests the optical system was developed alongside the vehicle’s styling, structure and manufacturing processes rather than added after the vehicle had already been defined.

At the rear, a full-width light panel uses 1,172 miniature ISD or interactive LED elements to create flowing effects and lighting expressions for different scenarios. 389 Individually or regionally controlled elements give designers more room for brand signatures, welcome animations and vehicle-status communication. The precise use cases and regulatory limits for such lighting still depend on the production vehicle and local road rules.

What “full-stack native co-creation” means

Dongfeng and Huawei describe their relationship as a full-cycle co-creation model covering joint product definition, development, office operations and marketing. It is presented as something deeper than a conventional automaker purchasing a single component from a supplier. 313339

Public reports say the companies formed a joint team of approximately 5,000 people and made investment at the tens-of-billions-of-yuan level. Because reports use different accounting and reporting scopes, “investment in the tens of billions of yuan” is a more cautious description than adding every published figure together. 262831

For the automotive-optics system, the practical impact of this approach is integration across the vehicle:

• Outside the car: XPIXEL uses controlled beams and road projection for safety cues and vehicle-to-person interaction.
• Inside the car: XSCENE provides a separate projection-based entertainment format.
• In the driver’s view: XHUD connects vehicle information with the real road scene.
• In the vehicle design: the length of the front and rear lamps, LED layout, light uniformity and animation effects must be engineered together with the body design and manufacturing process.

The significance of the X9 is therefore not simply that it has more features. It demonstrates a product-development approach in which optical hardware, software control, cabin experience and vehicle design are defined as one system. 713

Why the package is worth watching

Traditional automotive lighting has generally been treated as a combination of styling and nighttime illumination. The X9’s package expands that role into a cross-vehicle interaction layer: the headlamps face the road, the AR-HUD faces the driver, and the laser projector serves the passengers.

Together, they point to a broader shift in vehicle interfaces—from light used mainly for illumination and passive display toward light that can sense context, be precisely controlled and actively communicate.

The technology tour launched in June 2026 at Huawei’s Wuhan research institute, which related reports describe as Huawei’s global optical-capability center. The companies said the X9 would later visit additional research centers to showcase technologies involving intelligent driving, the smart cockpit, the digital chassis and design. 71213 That gives the vehicle a role as a technology demonstrator, not just a launch product.

The bottom line: integration is the headline, but production use will be the test

Based on the information disclosed so far, the division of labor is clear. XPIXEL handles pixel-level lighting control and road projection; XSCENE provides in-cabin laser projection and entertainment; and XHUD overlays driving information onto the real-world road scene.

By combining all three as standard equipment—and pairing them with a large front light assembly, 1,172 miniature rear-light elements and an extensive joint-development program—the Yijing X9 presents a vision of automotive lighting evolving from a collection of lamps into a vehicle-wide interaction system.

The important caveat is that key specifications, the “first vehicle” positioning and some performance descriptions come primarily from company announcements and media reports. The reviewed materials do not establish sufficient independent comparative testing or complete production-specification validation. For buyers, the more meaningful questions will be how consistently these functions work during nighttime encounters, on complex roads, in strong ambient light and during everyday family use—and where their practical safety boundaries lie.