Horizon Robotics aims to integrate intelligent driving technology into vehicles priced at 70,000 yuan | Latest Frontline

Yu Kai, CEO of Horizon Robotics

Text | Xiao Man

Editor | Li Qin

Horizon Robotics is trying to build a "new ecosystem", attract more players, and expand its business.

Recently, Yu Kai, CEO of Horizon Robotics, proposed at the first ecosystem conference of Horizon Robotics that intelligent driving has not truly entered the mass market. In the first three quarters of this year, passenger cars priced over 200,000 yuan accounted for 30% of the market share, while those priced under 130,000 yuan accounted for 50%. However, most models in the latter category do not have urban assisted driving functions.

Within this year, the intelligent driving solution HSD developed by Horizon Robotics has been installed in models priced at 130,000 yuan. Yu Kai revealed that Horizon Robotics will install the urban assisted driving solution based on a single Journey 6M chip in cars with a minimum price of 70,000 yuan next year.

Based on this judgment, Horizon Robotics proposed a new business model - the HSD Together model.

During the period from Journey 2, Journey 3 to Journey 5, Horizon Robotics' mainstream business model was to sell chips and solutions, including toolchains, basic software, reference designs for hardware and domain controllers, chip IP licensing, and algorithm IP licensing.

However, Horizon Robotics believes that the original business model can no longer solve the problem of making high - level urban autonomous driving more accessible. Therefore, the company upgraded its business model from "selling chips" to "selling algorithms and capabilities" and launched the algorithm service model "HSD Together". Currently, Horizon Robotics has cooperated with Denso, CARIZON (a joint - venture between Volkswagen and others), and HCT (Intelligent Driving Continental) based on this model.

It is reported that after the split and reorganization of its team and business lines, HCT has repositioned itself as a Tier 2 supplier. It has launched an intelligent driving solution based on the Journey 6M chip, with an algorithm framework similar to HSD. Currently, it is in contact with Horizon Robotics' ecosystem manufacturers such as ZX Auto, Forauto, and Lianchuang Electronics to provide algorithm support.

In addition, Horizon Robotics will develop high - level assisted driving solutions based on the Journey 6P chip with manufacturers such as DeepRoute.ai and Bosch. This means that Horizon Robotics and its ecosystem partners are entering the same market segment.

In Horizon Robotics' view, intelligent driving is the "automatic transmission" of the new era. The functions of intelligent driving will gradually converge, providing users with similar performance and functional logic, just like the performance and logic of automatic transmissions have gradually become unified. The differences mainly come from the way brands present the "gear lever", whether it is a basic lever or a crystal - textured one. This distinction comes from brand positioning rather than significant differences in underlying capabilities.

To further support the evolution of intelligent driving capabilities and meet the requirements of the new - generation intelligent driving models, Horizon Robotics announced the development of the fourth - generation BPU architecture - the Riemann architecture.

Compared with the previous - generation architecture, the number of high - precision operators has increased by more than 10 times; it supports Tensor (tensor) computing and Vector (vector) computing, fully supports floating - point computing, and has higher efficiency; it is optimized for large language models, with a 5 - fold improvement in energy efficiency.

The entire Journey 7 family will be equipped with the BPU Riemann architecture and will be launched simultaneously with Tesla's next - generation AI5 chip.

From a chip supplier to the HSD Together model, Horizon Robotics is trying to introduce more Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers in a more open and collaborative way, reshape the cooperation paradigm of the intelligent driving supply chain, and accelerate the popularization of intelligent driving capabilities.

However, the new ecosystem also brings new games - the boundary between Horizon Robotics and its partners is becoming blurred. The two sides are both a community of interests and in a competitive relationship. How to maintain a long - term and healthy ecological tension between "co - construction" and "competition" will determine how far this model can go and whether Horizon Robotics can truly bring intelligent driving into the mass market.