HEIHE, China — When this correspondent visited China's northernmost city of Heihe in Heilongjiang Province on Feb. 27, temperatures had plunged to minus 20 degrees Celsius despite late February timing. The city lies 500 kilometers north of Harbin, itself synonymous with winter.
After a 15-minute drive through snow-covered plains where boundaries between rivers and mountains blurred, HL Mando's winter research center emerged among bare coniferous trees, featuring a frozen lake track. Tractors and workers were clearing over 30 centimeters of snow that had fallen since the previous afternoon.
Despite company officials' concerns about "snowfall that occurs only once or twice a year," six test vehicles equipped with HL Mando's new technologies proved their worth under harsh conditions.
During a test ride, the vehicle executed smooth U-turns on roads made slipperier than usual by heavy snow. At 100 kilometers per hour without braking, the ride remained stable with only slight lateral vibrations. Even with two wheels disabled, the vehicle completed U-turns with only minor additional shaking — a situation that would normally cause drivers to veer off course.
The secret behind smooth U-turns on snow lies in the Electro-Mechanical Brake (EMB), a next-generation braking system. Unlike conventional hydraulic systems where one wheel failure locks the opposite wheel, EMB independently controls each wheel through electronic signals, maintaining near-normal braking even in emergencies.
The system also features redundancy that allows backup systems to immediately take control if main systems fail, plus an "Easy Turn" function reducing turning radius by approximately 0.8 meters — enabling single U-turns without braking.
The "HL Mando Track Day Winter" event, held in Heihe from Feb. 26 to March 6, showcased emerging future mobility technologies in extreme conditions. The 577,000-square-meter frozen surface — equivalent to 81 soccer fields — provides optimal conditions for pushing pre-launch vehicles to their limits. The venue's value has grown as electric vehicles, more vulnerable to extreme cold than internal combustion engines, become mainstream.
Beyond EMB, technologies designed for autonomous driving stood out. Safety system redundancy enables braking even during brake failure. A Redundancy Control Unit (RCU) paired with second-generation Integrated Dynamic Brake (IDB) — combining booster and Electronic Stability Control — allows RCU to immediately take over if IDB fails.
In a Neta test vehicle from Chinese automaker Hozon Auto, when a driver deliberately triggered an IDB system failure, the system immediately switched to backup mode. When a forward obstacle was detected, the car stopped itself without manual brake operation. This capability, essential for Level 3 autonomous driving, has attracted interest from major global automakers as well as Chinese manufacturers.
Other HL Mando technologies on display included Mobile Wheel Control for tablet-based steering and Smart Damping Control (SDC) 70 — advanced suspension technology enabling electric vehicles, sensitive to road impact, to navigate rough mountain roads smoothly.
HL Mando held a track day in Beijing in October 2024. The return to China within a year reflects the market's scale and importance. In China — where Korean automakers have struggled — the company generated 1.4 trillion won of its approximately 7 trillion won cumulative revenue for the first three quarters of 2024. Success came from diversifying beyond major customers like Hyundai Motor to secure large local automakers including Geely and NIO. Park Young-moon, China division head, was promoted from senior executive vice president to president late last year, just one year after his previous promotion.
Heihe holds special significance as HL Mando pioneered the location in 2003, becoming the first company worldwide to sign a 30-year exclusive lake usage contract. Once a remote area attracting no interest, it now stands as the world's premier winter testing ground, with approximately 200 companies testing 3,100 vehicles.
"Currently over 80% of customers visiting the Heihe test site are Chinese companies, but various global customers have been increasing significantly recently," an HL Mando official said. "This place is becoming a space where we showcase HL Mando's technology and secure contracts."