On September 20, sources from IT Times Online reported that Yu Kai, founder and CEO of HORIZON ROBOT-W, revealed in a recent interview that the intelligent driving sector will gradually move toward industry consolidation. The company plans to leverage two parallel business models to push forward its globalization strategy while steering clear of chasing short-term AI concept trends.
Previously, this platform covered news that Horizon Robotics' Journey series intelligent driving chips had surpassed 15 million units in cumulative production. Yu Kai explained that the company's first approach is modeled after the Wintel partnership from the PC era, delivering chips alongside supporting software directly to automakers. The second approach is the "AA" IP licensing model, which draws from the mobile ecosystem logic of Arm and Android, providing core technology IP to automakers with in-house development capabilities.
He forecasted that the industry's eventual landscape will show clear divergence, predicting that roughly 80% of automakers will opt for third-party suppliers, while only a select few leading enterprises will sustain a fully integrated vertical self-development strategy. Regarding the capital market's heavy influx into large language models and data centers, alongside cooling interest in automotive intelligence, Yu Kai believes the fundamental logic behind mobility intelligence transformation remains unchanged. He emphasized that companies should maintain a "deep and steady waters" approach, balancing healthy cash flow with sustained, robust R&D investment.
Addressing the democratization of intelligent driving, Yu Kai drew an analogy to the rollout of 4G mobile communications: high-level autonomous driving capabilities are currently concentrated in premium models but are expected to become standard across all vehicle segments in the future. Through coordinated software-hardware optimization, the Journey 6M chip has already been deployed in models at the 100,000-yuan price point, accelerating the penetration of advanced driving features into more affordable markets.
On the overseas front, Yu Kai acknowledged that international markets currently emphasize fundamental ADAS requirements, with widespread adoption of urban-level high-end autonomous driving potentially still five years away. Horizon Robotics is actively fulfilling existing ADAS order backlogs abroad while simultaneously partnering with overseas automakers through its IP licensing model to conduct early-stage R&D on advanced driving systems.
Looking at mid-to-long-term planning, Yu Kai emphasized that vehicle-mounted computing represents an essential pathway toward the robotics era, with the company's long-term objective being the establishment of computing standards for that future. The Stellar chip, designed for integrated cockpit-driving fusion, is scheduled to begin mass production this October, further rounding out the vehicle computing product portfolio. He stressed that the 15 million-unit milestone is merely a stepping stone, with formidable industry challenges still ahead.