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On August 7th, a major Chinese automotive manufacturer announced plans to unify its three autonomous driving teams within a new joint venture aimed at strengthening its consolidation efforts.
The newly formed entity will incorporate a 1,500-employee team from the premium electric vehicle brand Zeekr, a 1,000-strong team from the company’s research institute, and approximately 500 employees from the autopilot startup Maichi Zhixing, according to sources familiar with the company.
The company’s supply chain includes at least five intelligent driving teams: three internal groups—its research institute, Zeekr, and Lotus Cars—and two external partners—Ecarx and Freetech.
Following the completion of this integration, the new entity will function as an independent company. It is expected to serve as a key partner to the automaker and to offer advanced autonomous driving solutions across the broader automotive industry, insiders said.
Earlier this year, the company announced the formation of a joint venture valued at 4.8 billion yuan (roughly 668.3 million USD) with Maichi Zhixing, QL Partnership, Lotus Robotics, and an employee incentive platform. The joint venture was officially established in June.
The Hangzhou-based automaker committed to investing 1.3 billion yuan in assets into the venture and holds a 30 percent stake through its auto parts division. Maichi and QL also each hold a 30 percent share, while Lotus and the employee incentive platform equally own the remaining 10 percent.
The company’s president, Li Shufu, announced the Taizhou Declaration last September, outlining a strategy to develop a unified platform by consolidating internal resources, removing overlaps and redundancies, and boosting overall efficiency.
Since then, the firm has consolidated several sub-brands, including merging Lynk & Co into Zeekr and Gome into Galaxy. It also revealed plans to privatize Zeekr by the year’s end, removing it from the New York Stock Exchange.
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