JiuShi Intelligence secures over $300 million in new financing after its 20,000 vehicles drive up its valuation to over $10 billion

Good news has arrived in the autonomous driving arena.

Recently, the driverless technology company Jiushi Intelligence completed a new round of financing exceeding $300 million. Previously, Jiushi Intelligence had already completed five rounds of financing. So far, the cumulative public financing amount of Jiushi Intelligence has far exceeded $800 million (approximately RMB 5.5 billion), and the company's valuation has exceeded the 10 - billion - yuan mark.

Established in 2021, through strategic integration with Cainiao's driverless vehicle business, the total fleet size of this company has exceeded 20,000 units, covering over 300 cities in more than 10 countries worldwide. While the autonomous driving industry is generally trapped in the cycle of "technology demonstration and continuous losses", Jiushi Intelligence has found a distinct path to break through the commercialization bottleneck.

Two "technology gurus" from Baidu join hands again, securing six rounds of financing

The story of Jiushi Intelligence begins with the reunion of two veterans from Baidu Apollo.

Zhuang Li, the founder, was one of the contributors to Baidu Apollo's open - source system. In July 2021, he returned to China from Silicon Valley, USA, to start a business, and in August, he registered and established Jiushi Intelligence. Subsequently, Kong Qi, who also has a background at Baidu's Silicon Valley R & D Center and once led the R & D of JD's 2C driverless vehicles, joined as CEO. This core technical team emerging from the "Whampoa Military Academy" of China's autonomous driving industry forms the initial foundation of Jiushi Intelligence.

Jiushi Intelligence focuses on the implementation of L4 - level driverless technology in the urban distribution and logistics field. Its core product, the Z5 driverless vehicle, is specially designed for urban logistics transfer, with a loading volume of up to 5 cubic meters, suitable for various scenarios such as closed parks and urban transportation.

Since its establishment, Jiushi Intelligence has maintained a steady and large - scale financing rhythm: five out of the six rounds of financing have exceeded $100 million.

In August 2022, just about one year after its establishment, Jiushi Intelligence received a strategic financing of $30 million. In the following two years, Jiushi Intelligence maintained the pace of securing one round of financing each year.

2025 was a crucial and explosive period for its financing: Two rounds of financing were completed within a year, with a cumulative amount exceeding $400 million. Meanwhile, the entry of Ant Group not only brought capital support but also laid the foundation for subsequent industrial collaboration.

The newly announced financing of over $300 million in February 2026 is the sixth round of financing since the company's establishment.

This round of financing took place after its strategic integration with Cainiao's autonomous driving department. On January 29 this year, the two parties officially announced a deep - level cooperation: Cainiao became a shareholder of Jiushi through the injection of its driverless vehicle business and cash investment, jointly promoting the implementation of the RoboVan "Super - Carrier Plan".

Ant's significant investment and Cainiao's integration mark the recognition of Jiushi's technology and business path by the Alibaba ecosystem. Kong Qi once said that Cainiao's large - customer resources, full - chain digital platform, and technological accumulation from DAMO Academy perfectly complement Jiushi's large - scale implementation capabilities, coverage in the sinking market, and full - stack self - developed capabilities.

After the integration, the two parties will adopt a dual - brand operation model similar to "Toyota + Lexus" - Jiushi will focus on the mass market and sinking scenarios, while Cainiao will deepen its presence in core logistics scenarios, jointly building a smart transportation capacity network with seamless connection between "open roads and terminal scenarios".

From the core technical team emerging from Baidu to the successive entries of Ant and Cainiao, Jiushi Intelligence has completed a "triple - jump" in "technical team, product implementation, and industrial collaboration" in less than six years with six rounds of financing.

Three product lines for strategic positioning, accelerating commercialization

If financing is the "fuel" for the company's development, then the large - scale implementation of the business is the real engine of Jiushi Intelligence.

As of January 2026, its driverless vehicles have covered over 300 cities and regions globally, with a cumulative delivery volume of over 1.5 billion orders, helping customers reduce operating costs by an average of 66%.

Jiushi Intelligence has a clear and practical business logic, and its product line is divided into three major series.

In July 2024, Jiushi launched four "low - cost vehicles" at once

The Z - series is positioned as "all - around", with vehicle models ranging from 2 to 10 cubic meters, focusing on full - scenario compatibility, covering standard delivery, heavy - load long - distance transportation, etc.

The E - series emphasizes "specialization" and was launched in May 2025, mainly targeting scenarios for light and bulky goods such as express delivery and logistics, with a lighter body and a larger cargo box.

The L - series focuses more on heavy - load demand scenarios and was launched in August 2025, with a load capacity of over 1.8 tons, suitable for transporting heavy goods such as rice, flour, oil, and tires and auto parts.

Jiushi Intelligence is very flexible in its business model.

Before the launch of Jiushi's Z - series in May 2024, the industry generally adopted a "one - time deal", with the only difference being whether to sell vehicle hardware (vehicles) or software (transportation capacity).

Jiushi Intelligence was the first to introduce the method of "low - cost hardware + software installment payment" and also introduced financial companies as a guarantee, opening up new ideas for flexible payment. Subsequent products have all followed this style.

Jiushi Intelligence has a flexible product payment method

As market recognition increased, the main models returned to the "fixed - price" model, reducing the capital pressure and accelerating large - scale expansion. In October 2025, Jiushi Intelligence won the bid for China Post's centralized procurement project of 7,000 driverless vehicle leases, securing the world's largest L4 - level driverless freight vehicle procurement order.

Behind the accelerated commercial implementation is the continuous iteration of technology.

In the first half of 2025, Jiushi Intelligence became the first company in the industry to achieve L4 - level autonomous driving capabilities in the urban open - road freight scenario without relying on centimeter - level high - definition maps, based on lane - level navigation maps + real - time perception fusion technology. This "light - map" breakthrough enables driverless vehicles to recognize temporary traffic lights and lane lines in real - time like humans, greatly improving the efficiency of large - scale implementation.

Meanwhile, the significant optimization of operating costs has become another key driver of commercialization. In the second half of 2025, Jiushi reduced the remote labor cost to less than 3% of the monthly total cost, completely moving out of the "demonstration operation" stage. As of January 2026, Jiushi's driverless vehicles had an 88% market share in the RoboVan field, with a cumulative delivery of over 15,000 units.

This positive cycle of "technology - cost reduction - scenario verification - large - scale expansion" has already formed. Zhuang Li, the co - founder of Jiushi, once pointed out that "the critical point for the explosion of the driverless logistics vehicle industry is an operating scale of 10,000 units". Now, after integrating with Cainiao, Jiushi's fleet size has exceeded 20,000 units, which means the industry has crossed the explosion critical point and is accelerating towards the break - even line of 50,000 units (profitable without considering R & D costs).

The landscape and competition in the driverless logistics arena

The rapid development of Jiushi Intelligence is a microcosm of the explosion of the driverless logistics vehicle arena since 2025.

Capital is flowing into this field with unprecedented enthusiasm. According to statistics from CheDongXi, the total financing amount in China's autonomous driving field in 2025 exceeded 58.2 billion yuan, of which the cumulative financing amount of the four leading companies in the driverless logistics vehicle sub - arena, namely Neolix, White Rhino, Youjia Innovation, and Jiushi Intelligence, was approximately 5.8 billion yuan, accounting for about 10% of the total industry amount.

The deep - seated binding of industrial giants and capital has become a prominent feature. Ant Group has made a significant investment in Jiushi, and Alibaba has integrated Cainiao's driverless vehicle business; logistics giants such as JD, Meituan, and SF Express have also deployed through investment or self - R & D. Top venture capital institutions such as Sequoia Capital China, CDH Investments, and Legend Capital, as well as industrial capitals such as Horizon Robotics and NIO Capital, have all entered the market.

The market space is also considerable. Industry data predicts that the number of domestic driverless delivery vehicles is expected to reach 100,000 in 2026 and may reach 750,000 by 2030. At the policy level, from the "Implementation Opinions on 'Artificial Intelligence + Transportation'" jointly issued by seven national departments to the commercialization guidelines successively introduced by various regions, all provide a clearer compliance path for driverless delivery vehicles.

Under such circumstances, the participants in the arena are becoming increasingly diverse: first, autonomous driving companies deeply involved in niche scenarios, such as Jiushi, Neolix, and White Rhino; second, logistics platforms with ecological advantages, such as Cainiao, JD, and Meituan; third, passenger - car players who entered the arena across industries starting in 2025, such as Desay SV, MINIEYE, and some automobile manufacturers.

Although the market space is huge and can accommodate multiple players, resources and shares are concentrating on the leading companies. Jiushi's 76% share among key express delivery and logistics customers and 88% market share in medium - and large - sized vehicles have already shown this leading - company agglomeration effect.

In the future, as companies like Jiushi and Neolix move towards a delivery volume of 100,000 units, driverless logistics vehicles will truly become the infrastructure for urban operation. Overseas markets - such as Singapore, the UAE, Japan, and South Korea, where Jiushi has already deployed - will also become important battlefields for the next stage of competition.

Looking back from 2026, 2025 was undoubtedly the "ignition year" for L4 - level driverless logistics. While autonomous driving in the passenger - car field is still hovering between L2 and L3, the low - speed, cargo - carrying RoboVan has successfully completed the business closed - loop first, becoming the "showroom" for the industrial implementation of autonomous driving in China.

For Jiushi Intelligence, the support of six rounds of financing and the deep integration with Cainiao are only phased achievements. How to maintain its market advantage, continuously optimize technology and costs, and further explore domestic and international markets still requires steady progress.

And the entire driverless logistics arena, under the leadership of leading companies, the promotion of capital, and the support of policies, will gradually shed its "concept" cloak and truly integrate into daily logistics operations and enter the lives of more people.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Cyber - car" (ID: Cyber - car), written by Zhang Lianyi and edited by Qiu Kaijun. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.