GWM Updates Safety Tech on Tank 500 and Cannon Alpha

At the Australian launch of the GWM’s Tank 500 and Cannon Alpha, in attendance were engineers from the firm, wanting to know what we thought of their products and whether they could be improved. Most complained about excessive bonging from the safety systems.

Now it appears like the engineers were really listening and intent on making product improvements. Because while these have only been on sale for a short while, GWM has implemented changes in response to both media and customer feedback. And these changes will apply not only to new vehicles but will also be offered to existing customers who have bought these this year. 

And yes, the changes do indeed centre around their overly intrusive safety bongs. They’ve also made alterations to the 2.0-litre turbopetrol hybrid powertrain. Evidently, the overly intrusive lane keeping function on the Tank 300 is also in for an update. However, this is unlikely to take place until more testing is done in Australian conditions. 

GWM says the changes will be rolled out to all 2025 production versions of the Tank 500 and Cannon Alpha. They will also contact existing customers and offer them the same software updates.

They are reasonably comprehensive too. 

For both vehicles: 

If you turn off the Driver Monitoring System, it will stay turned off and no longer default to on with each restart. 

For the fatigue alert, instead of suggesting ‘Please take a break’ an alert will sound (at lower volume).

False alerts from the Emergency Lane Keeping system reduce. A flashing lane graphic will pop up instead of the current visual alert. It will also be easier to cancel ELK with a shortcut button.

Adaptive Cruise Control – Intelligent cornering is dialled back, reducing the likelihood of the vehicle slowing excessively while cornering.

Acceleration also increases when ACC is used, allowing the vehicle to respond more quickly and reduce the gap between vehicles faster.

For Cannon Alpha:

Additional software updates include:

A tow hitch guideline is added for the reversing camera. 

Throttle response improves to maker power delivery feel more like the stated outputs. Its ‘flywheel effect’ reduces after full or heavy throttle inputs. Rev-hang lowers and regen increases to improve this.

In the Normal drive mode, hybrid mode engagement logic adjusts to minimise lag during the transition from EV to hybrid mode.

In Sport mode, throttle response and engine responsiveness sharpen while maintaining smooth gear changes.

CarExpert had the opportunity to drive the former and new calibration Cannon Alpha one after the other. They said the updates transform the way the vehicle drives at lower speeds.

They claim the throttle is more responsive and the transition between electric mode and hybrid mode is much smoother.

The ‘sticky throttle’ issue or rev hang they say is also eliminated. This was an issue when attempting to cross an intersection and then having to stop suddenly.

Distraction monitoring changes are also welcome, now being much less intrusive. However, they said the lane centring system requires further work. They weren’t able to assess the impact of ACC changes.

These same software changes apply to both new and customer vehicles in New Zealand. Those who already own them will be contacted early next year and scheduled to have the updates implemented at the dealership.