Is "Doubao Auto" coming? SERES' Landian changes its name to SAI DOU, and ByteDance gets deeply involved in the automotive industry.

Seres is set to collaborate with ByteDance. Its subsidiary, Landian Technology, has changed its name to Saidou Technology. Will Doubao AI be deeply integrated into vehicles?

In recent days, the equity change of Landian Technology, a subsidiary of Seres, has attracted significant attention.

On May 30th, the official WeChat account of Shapingba District in Chongqing, "Shapingba Release", officially announced that Chongqing Landian Technology Co., Ltd. has been renamed Chongqing Saidou Technology Co., Ltd.

(Source: Shapingba Release)

In the official announcement, there are two key points worth noting regarding the positioning of Saidou Technology. One is to "seize the strategic opportunity of the deep integration of the automotive industry and artificial intelligence", and the other is to "create a differentiated competitive advantage".

The "Sai" in Saidou Technology refers to Seres. So, who does the "Dou" refer to?

According to a report by LatePost Auto, Saidou Technology is the legal entity of Seres' new automotive brand, which will be launched this month. It is a deep - cooperation project between Seres and Volcengine, a subsidiary of ByteDance.

TrendForce Auto speculates that the "Dou" in Saidou Technology might refer to Doubao.

Moreover, LatePost Auto also reported that the depth of Volcengine's involvement will exceed the previous "joint definition and joint development" cooperation with SAIC Roewe.

Then, to what extent will the cooperation between Seres and ByteDance deepen? What changes will the integration of Doubao AI into vehicles bring?

From Landian to Saidou, what strategy is Seres planning?

A few days before Landian Technology changed its name to Saidou Technology, it underwent a capital increase and equity adjustment.

On May 26th, Seres Group issued an announcement stating that as of May 25th, investors had increased the capital of Chongqing Landian Technology Co., Ltd. by a total of 6.67059 billion yuan.

There are two points worth noting in this capital increase:

First, the major shareholder of Landian Technology has changed from Seres Automobile (Hubei) Co., Ltd. to Shaci Zhiyuan, a new - energy vehicle investment platform under Shaxing Group, a state - owned capital investment enterprise in Shapingba District, Chongqing.

Second, Wending Investment, a subsidiary of CATL, has become a shareholder of Landian Technology, holding 9.8867% of the shares.

However, in this equity adjustment, ByteDance - affiliated companies did not invest. TrendForce Auto observed that the performance of Saidou Technology in terms of technology and equity is somewhat similar to the relationship between Avita, Huawei, and CATL.

In the cooperation between Avita, Huawei, and CATL, Huawei only serves as a technology cooperation partner of Avita, supplying technologies such as the Hongmeng cockpit, Kunlun intelligent driving assistance, and the DriveONE high - voltage electric drive system. CATL not only supplies batteries to Avita but is also the third - largest shareholder of Avita, with a shareholding ratio of approximately 9.878%.

In the operation of the automotive brand under Saidou Technology, will it be similar to the cooperation between Avita, Huawei, and CATL, that is, ByteDance - affiliated companies provide AI - related technology supply, and CATL serves as a battery supplier and shareholder? We'll have to wait for the subsequent official announcement.

It's worth noting that Seres and Landian Technology, the predecessor of Saidou Technology, had already started AI - related cooperation with ByteDance as early as last October.

On October 9th, 2025, Chongqing Phoenix Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Seres, signed a cooperation framework agreement on embodied intelligence with Volcengine, a subsidiary of ByteDance. Kang Bo, the vice - president of Seres Group, once posted on social media, saying, "The two parties will carry out end - to - end business such as joint design of embodied intelligence and jointly create a new artificial - intelligence ecosystem."

On December 3rd, 2025, the third - generation Landian E5 PLUS was launched. According to the official website, this model is deeply integrated with the Doubao large - model, featuring "seven avatars of full - scenario AI Agents" such as vehicle - control Agent and vehicle - usage assistant Agent, and is equipped with the "ByteDance ecosystem package", supporting functions such as swiping Douyin on the central control screen and real - time playback of Toutiao news.

(Source: Landian Automobile)

According to a report by 36Kr in October 2025, Seres was already collaborating with Volcengine, a subsidiary of ByteDance, on in - vehicle large - models at that time. Seres was responsible for the R & D of the in - vehicle system architecture, while Volcengine focused on the application and deployment of large - models on the vehicle side.

Moreover, Seres was also evaluating whether to install an independent AI BOX as a computing add - on to support the operation of large - models.

In the report, an informed source told 36Kr that the Doubao large - model would enable all - around interactions such as voice and vision, and could not only define the parameters of in - vehicle sensors but also the corresponding computing solutions.

In this regard, the cooperation between Seres and Volcengine on in - vehicle large - models disclosed by 36Kr at that time was far deeper than the level of the third - generation Landian E5 PLUS two months later.

Then, will the cooperation between the two parties, like the Doubao mobile assistant jointly developed by ByteDance and Nubia, create a "Doubao car"?

First, the Doubao mobile assistant, then a "Doubao car"?

When it comes to the deep integration of ByteDance's AI and hardware, the Doubao mobile assistant is an unavoidable product.

On December 1st, 2025, ByteDance officially announced the release of the preview version of the Doubao mobile assistant, which runs on the nubia M153. It deeply integrates the Doubao large - model with the operating system, and can achieve full - scale AI operation across apps through GUI Agent (Graphical User Interface Agent) technology. That is, when a user gives an instruction, the Doubao large - model can automatically control the mobile phone to execute it.

Although the Doubao mobile assistant is just a preview version for experimental purposes, and many apps have restricted AI permissions due to risk control and other reasons after its launch, it shows us the broad prospects brought by the collaboration between AI and hardware.

(Source: ZTE)

As for the automotive aspect, as mentioned above, ByteDance has already cooperated with Roewe under SAIC. In April this year, Roewe officially announced the AI - native automotive series "Jiayue" in cooperation with Volcengine, and the first model is the Jiayue 07.

According to Roewe's official introduction, the Jiayue series models were jointly created from the ground up with Volcengine. The two parties jointly defined the interaction experience and jointly developed the technical platform, and can "integrate AI capabilities with the vehicle's underlying system".

Volcengine said that Roewe's AI - native cars can allow the Doubao large - model to deeply access the vehicle's capabilities, become a unified entrance, and achieve a complete closed - loop of understanding needs, analysis, decision - making, and execution.

Based on the information mentioned above, the depth of Volcengine's involvement will exceed the previous "joint definition and joint development" cooperation with SAIC Roewe.

Then, what will the products of their cooperation look like? For example, like the Doubao mobile assistant, using GUI Agent to achieve full - scenario and cross - app execution capabilities? Or breaking through the barriers between different vehicle domains to achieve the collaboration between the large AI model and the power domain, chassis domain, and body domain?

However, there is currently no specific information disclosed. We still need to wait for an official announcement to know the exact cooperation level and the AI capabilities of the new cars under Saidou.

It should be noted that according to a report by BlueWhale News, Tan Dai, the president of Volcengine, said that Volcengine will not consider participating in intelligent driving projects. This means that Volcengine's AI may not cover the intelligent driving domain of Saidou's future new cars.

Currently, the latest model of Saidou/Landian Technology, the third - generation Landian E5 PLUS, uses the Horizon J3 solution for intelligent driving assistance, and Yushi Technology is responsible for the development of the intelligent driving assistance system.

If Saidou continues to use this solution in the future, it's unclear how it will achieve the collaboration between ByteDance's large - model and the intelligent driving assistance field. If a model with AI capabilities as its core selling point has a gap in intelligent driving assistance capabilities, isn't it a bit less thorough in terms of AI?

After Wenjie, has Seres chosen the right path again?

Presumably, many people first got to know Seres through its Wenjie brand, which is in cooperation with Hongmeng Zhixing.

In the cooperation between Seres and Huawei, Huawei is almost in charge of everything from product definition, R & D, to marketing and channels. Seres itself mainly plays the role of a producer, with relatively low autonomy.

Seres' own Landian brand has little presence in terms of both popularity and sales volume, and has always been sold in the 100,000 - yuan price range.

This capital increase of Landian, the name change to Saidou, and the cooperation with ByteDance may be a new way out for Seres in the field of passenger cars in the AI era.

If the cooperation between Saidou and Volcengine goes smoothly and achieves another leap in AI technology on the vehicle side, it will be another correct choice for Seres after Wenjie.

However, different from Wenjie, this time, Seres may really have a part of the control over the soul of Saidou.

This article is from "TrendForce Auto" and is published by 36Kr with authorization.