"Qian Gu Technology" completed a Series B financing of 400 million yuan, and its wire-controlled chassis has been selected for more than 50 vehicle models. | Exclusive from 36Kr.
Written by Tian Zhe
Edited by Su Jianxun
36Kr has learned that Shanghai QianGu Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. recently announced the completion of a Series B financing round of 400 million yuan. The investors in this round are FAW Equity Investment, Blue Lake Capital, Dachen Caizhi, Qingkong Jinxin, Qiancheng Capital, Rongyi Investment, Dahua Venture Capital, Guangkai Fund, Changshu Jingkai Guofa, Changjiang Chebai Fund, Baolong Technology, Aotu Venture Capital, and Zhixing Qiyuan.
The electrification and intelligence of new energy vehicles are accelerating. The "2024 June Automotive Intelligent Network Insight Report" released by the Passenger Car Association points out that the installation rate of L2 and above assisted driving functions in new energy passenger vehicles from January to June 2024 reached 66.4%. Currently, the intelligent driving market is in a market window period.
The enhancement of intelligent driving capabilities also correspondingly raises the requirements for the automotive braking system, and the wire-controlled braking system can more precisely control the braking pressure to meet the requirements of intelligent vehicles for the braking system.
The wire-controlled braking is a braking system controlled by automotive electronics, where electronic components replace some mechanical components, and the braking force is controlled and distributed by the electronic control system. Compared to the braking response time of the traditional mechanical braking system, which is 300 - 600 milliseconds, the wire-controlled braking system can reduce the response time to about 150 milliseconds, significantly improving driving safety.
Founded in 2015, QianGu Technology focuses on the research and development and manufacturing of wire-controlled chassis. Its team has nearly 300 people, with the R & D proportion accounting for nearly 80%. The core members have more than ten years of experience in the development of new energy and intelligent vehicle wire-controlled chassis and have mass-produced more than 6 million sets of intelligent chassis braking products.
ESC and ABS are the main products of QianGu Technology. The former is the Vehicle Stability Control System, used to monitor the driving status of the vehicle in real time; the latter is the Anti-lock Braking System, which prevents the wheels from locking during braking.
It is reported that the two products ESC and ABS of QianGu Technology have been mass-produced in 6 OEMs, accounting for 30% of the market share of domestic wire-controlled braking enterprise passenger vehicle ABS & ESC in 2023.
In terms of the wire-controlled braking system, QianGu Technology has developed an integrated OneBox product - EHBI Electronic Hydraulic Braking System.
36Kr has learned that its EHBI Electronic Hydraulic Braking System integrates the functions of ABS, ESC, E-booster, and EPB, supports multi-sensor fusion, improves the measurement accuracy of vehicle parameters by 70%, and reduces the convergence speed of the drive shaft by 50%, making the vehicle have more precise directionality and higher stability. Currently, the annual production capacity of QianGu Technology's EHBI is 800,000 sets.
Currently, the wire-controlled chassis components of QianGu Technology have obtained more than 50 model designations from 11 OEMs, covering passenger and commercial vehicle models of well-known local OEMs.
Xu Songyun, the deputy general manager of QianGu Technology, introduced that QianGu Technology will also develop EMB (Electro-Mechanical Braking System) to achieve a truly dry wire-controlled braking, which can reduce the braking response speed to tens of milliseconds. The A-sample hardware and development platform of EMB have been launched and entered the vehicle installation test stage, and mass production will be realized in the fourth quarter of 2026.
In terms of chips, QianGu Technology has launched a strategic cooperation with several well-known vehicle enterprises on domestic chips and is gradually realizing the product landing. In terms of university-enterprise cooperation, QianGu Technology, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Wuhan University of Technology, and Baolong Technology jointly established the "Intelligent Wire-Controlled Chassis Joint Laboratory" to establish an intelligent chassis joint research team to accelerate the breakthrough of intelligent chassis technology.
In the future, QianGu Technology will attempt to develop automotive suspensions to expand the new product line.