Unter der Leitung eines ehemaligen Kommilitonen von Tsinghua University hat Zaihe Truck 1 Milliarde Yuan an Kapital beschafft.

The investment industry has learned that the rising leader in the field of AI trucks, Zaihe Truck, has officially announced that it has completed a total of financing in the range of one billion yuan. The financing structure forms a three - part capital closure in the form of "equity + bonds + industry" – it has gathered the support of well - known venture capital companies such as BV Baidu Ventures, Suzhou Venture Capital Group, and Lushi Investment, and has established in - depth industry alliances with Horizon Robotics, Chuangyuan Group, and Wan'an Technology. In addition, it has received comprehensive financial support from five major state - owned banks such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the China Construction Bank.

In the new energy truck industry, such an approach is not very common.

At the same time, a keyword is constantly mentioned – the "vehicle - cloud - connected AI truck". This is a new market segment developed by Zaihe Truck, and in the future, the large - scale introduction and operation of "truly unmanned and safe" trucks will be possible.

Without much fanfare, a new era of logistics reshaped by artificial intelligence is approaching.

Under the leadership of an outstanding student from Tsinghua University

Striving to build the world's best new energy intelligent trucks

In 2022, the market for new energy passenger cars was already in full swing, while the transition to new energy in the truck sector was still regarded by the industry as a just - started marathon.

It was precisely in this year that Zhang Lei, a doctor from the School of Vehicle Engineering at Tsinghua University, founded a company in Suzhou and targeted new energy intelligent trucks. This was by no means an easy business, but required an extremely strict technical foundation and a forward - looking technological vision.

Behind Zaihe Truck stands a multidisciplinary team with impressive backgrounds.

Founder Zhang Lei was directly admitted to the School of Vehicle Engineering at Tsinghua University for his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral studies. He is also a founding member of the "AI Driving Assistance and Vehicle - Cloud Integration" team of academician Li Keqiang of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Two other stages in his career have impressed the industry – as the youngest department head at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, Zhang Lei was in charge of billions of yuan in national space projects; in 2019, he founded Qingzhi Technology for autonomous driving functions and achieved the largest industry acquisition in this market segment.

The co - founder and CTO, Dr. Guo Liqun, also has a high profile. She enjoys a special allowance from the State Council, is a national "March 8th Red - Banner Holder", and was once the chief engineer at the Technology Center of FAW Group. She led the development of the flagship model J7 of FAW Jiefang.

The strict work style of the aerospace industry combined with years of experience in the automotive industry is also reflected in the name of Zaihe: The name comes from both the spirit of Tsinghua University, "Broad - mindedness and Tolerance", and the practical belief of the logistics industry, "Combination of Theory and Practice". "Zaihe" sounds similar to "load", a value symbol understood by logistics workers, automobile manufacturers, and aerospace professionals.

From the beginning, Zhang Lei had a very clear idea about vehicle development, namely to move away from the "conversion of gasoline vehicles to electric vehicles" and develop a real, completely newly designed new energy intelligent truck.

In Zhang Lei's view, the "conversion of gasoline vehicles to electric vehicles" is only a temporary solution for the electrification of traditional commercial vehicles. Due to the physical limitations of the existing gasoline vehicle platform, the limits of energy efficiency and intelligence are already clearly recognizable, and this solution will eventually be replaced.

Therefore, Zaihe Truck has developed an integrated domain control system for "three - phase current + intelligent chassis + thermal management" and applied the precision of the aerospace industry to the lightweight design of the entire vehicle – the more one ton of cargo the driver can transport, the more money he can earn. The most important chapter is the creation of the world's first hydrogen - electric flagship truck with a range of 1,500 kilometers, which has already been delivered in series to SF Express. Zaihe Truck is currently the only provider among the new generation of truck manufacturers that offers both hydrogen and electric vehicles and has the most comprehensive technology.

According to information, Zaihe Truck has already expanded its business operations to more than ten provinces such as Shaanxi, Henan, Xinjiang, Sichuan, and Jiangsu and covers several key areas such as express delivery and large - scale logistics. A total of several million kilometers of customer operations and tests with autonomous driving functions have been completed. In 2025, Zaihe Truck was recognized as a potential unicorn company in China and an outstanding talent company in Jiangsu Province and ranked third in the delivery volume of the new generation of truck manufacturers.

Therefore, the financing in the range of one billion yuan was only logical.

A multi - billion - dollar market

New energy intelligent trucks are facing a strategic opportunity period.

But beneath the surface, there are also weaknesses in the industry: Single - vehicle intelligent solutions are becoming increasingly complex, over - the - horizon perception does not work, and the problems in adverse weather conditions remain unsolved. The marginal benefits decrease with increasing driving distance.

Zaihe Truck's solution is to break away from the single - vehicle logic.

The team has chosen the approach of "vehicle - cloud integration" and developed a "four - layer safety architecture", in which the "redundant by - wire chassis" ensures hardware safety, the "advanced driver assistance" forms active safety, the "end - to - end large model on the vehicle" takes over normal control, and the "network - cloud control system" provides global coverage.

In short, it really exceeds the physical limit of single - vehicle intelligence. This also explains why Zaihe Truck insists on "direct sales and direct service" – data collection under the most complex customer conditions is the toughest shield for the future "Physical AI In Motion" (physical artificial intelligence at the transportation end).

"Autonomous driving of trucks is the next multi - billion - dollar market, a necessity for cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the logistics industry, and one of the largest application areas of general physical artificial intelligence." Zhang Lei is sure.

In the view of investors, the value of Zaihe lies not only in the product itself.

Gao Xue, Managing Partner and CEO of BV Baidu Ventures, said: "We are long - term optimistic about the intelligent and networked transformation of the commercial vehicle industry and appreciate Zaihe's forward - looking planning and self - development capabilities in the fields of full - autonomous driving, vehicle domain control, and vehicle - cloud systems for intelligent trucks. Zaihe focuses on the software - defined vehicle as the core and reconstructs the underlying intelligent logic of trucks. It focuses on the implementation of autonomous driving in long - distance logistics. We will continue to support Zaihe Truck in the research and development of intelligent algorithms and the completion of the commercial implementation of autonomous driving in all scenarios and jointly lead the new track of intelligent trucks in China at the forefront."

Similarly, the Suzhou Innovation Investment Group said: "Zaihe is a leading provider of new energy trucks, jointly promoted by the Suzhou Research Institute of Tsinghua University and the Suzhou municipal government. With a top - notch team and a strong background in vehicle manufacturing, it focuses on lightweight design, low energy consumption, and intelligent networking to lay a solid foundation for the 'dual - carbon goal'. We will continue to support Zaihe to take root, grow, and strengthen in Suzhou, deepen industry cooperation, and promote the green logistics and new energy industries."

In the context of the industrial wave where new energy trucks aim for peak performance, intelligence, and sustainability, Horizon Robotics has also shown its support: "We will intensively support its intelligent driver assistance systems and build a comprehensive hardware and software cooperation concept for 'perception - decision - execution' to accelerate the mass production of driver assistance systems above Level 2++ in the truck industry." At the same time, we will adjust resources to Zaihe based on the Horizon ecosystems to support it in quickly strengthening its technological and product - specific advantages.

As an early investor, Deng Zhao, Chairman of Lushi Investment, believes that Zaihe has been based on a self - developed intelligent platform from the beginning and has built a solid technological rampart in the fields of lightweight design, extremely low energy consumption, and vehicle - cloud integration. "We will continue to support Zaihe to improve core technologies and expand the domestic market to jointly promote the green transformation, efficiency improvement, and technological progress in the commercial vehicle industry."

This hard revolution of physical artificial intelligence is just beginning.

This article is from the WeChat account "Investment Industry AI", author: Feng Yuchen, published by 36Kr with permission.