Chery Automobile’s intelligent technology hub is preparing for a major leadership change. According to several industry insiders, Hu Weilong, formerly with Geely’s central research institute, will soon join Chery to lead its driving assistance R&D division.
Meanwhile, Xie Baojun, who has been managing the hub’s daily operations, will move to oversee vehicle electrical and electronic architecture development. Chery did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
In May, Chery announced the merger of its subsidiaries Lion Tech and ZDrive.ai with related R&D units to form the new tech hub. The center integrates cockpit, driving assistance, and digital architecture departments. Wu Xuebin was appointed to lead overall strategy, while Xie became second-in-command, handling daily operations. The organizational structure was implemented in July.
That means Xie led Chery’s intelligent tech operations for less than six months before the company brought in a new executive to head assisted driving R&D.
Hu previously worked at Huawei and Geely. He joined Geely in 2021, where he led efforts to complete in-house development and mass production of automated parking systems and highway navigate-on-autopilot (NOA) features. He left Geely earlier this year and will now lead Chery’s assisted driving division.
Xie, a former Zeekr executive, joined ZDrive.ai in October last year, where he was vice president in charge of electrical and electronic architecture development.
Before establishing the intelligent tech hub, Chery’s R&D structure was fragmented, with overlapping investments and slow progress.
Lion Tech, founded in 2014 with Wu as CEO, led Chery’s cockpit system development. In smart driving, responsibilities were split between internal and external teams. ZDrive.ai, under Gu Junli, focused on autonomous driving R&D, while Chery also relied on suppliers including Horizon Robotics, Momenta, and Zhuoyu Technology.
ZDrive.ai, established in 2023 as a Chery subsidiary, was 60% owned by Chery, 20% by a Wuhu-registered Chery entity, and 20% by Gu. Industry sources said Chery invested around RMB 500 million (USD 70 million) in ZDrive.ai, tasking it with developing production-ready front-view integrated cameras, Level 4 autonomous driving systems, and highway NOA functions. The company aimed to break even by 2024.
However, a month before the planned mass production of its highway NOA system, ZDrive.ai was absorbed into Chery’s tech hub, with unfinished projects transferred to PhiGent Robotics.
Chery’s current smart driving partners include QCraft, PhiGent, Huawei, Momenta, Bosch, WeRide, Horizon Robotics, and Zhuoyu.
Chery’s partnership with QCraft centers on developing urban NOA features, which is considered a flagship project since the hub’s formation. Earlier, Chery and Luxshare Precision jointly invested USD 100 million in QCraft. The collaboration uses Nvidia’s Orin Y chip with about 200 TOPS (tera operations per second) of computing power, running QCraft’s algorithms. The system is being developed by former ZDrive.ai engineers and QCraft. QCraft is also building other solutions for Chery using Horizon’s Journey 6E and Journey 6M platforms.
PhiGent, meanwhile, is developing Chery’s highway NOA solution using Horizon’s J6E platform. The Tiggo 9X, equipped with PhiGent’s system, has already reached the market.
Industry sources told 36Kr that Xie led the PhiGent collaboration. Even before ZDrive.ai’s consolidation, PhiGent had secured development programs for four Chery models.
Chery’s partnership with Huawei spans software and hardware, supporting models under the Luxeed, Jetour, and Exeed brands.
Momenta’s collaboration with Chery focuses on advanced driver assistance systems. One project, built on Qualcomm’s 8620 platform, has entered mass production for highway NOA functions. Another, based on Nvidia’s Orin Y, is deployed in the Fulwin T11.
Bosch and WeRide jointly developed an urban NOA system using dual Orin X chips, already in mass production on the Exeed Sterra ES and Exeed Sterra ET. They are now preparing a new Orin Y-based system for Chery’s overseas models.
In November, Horizon Robotics began mass production of its HSD system using its Journey 6P chip and proprietary algorithms, integrating it into the Exeed ET5. Horizon also deepened ties with Chery through equity investment, becoming a cornerstone investor in Chery’s Hong Kong IPO in September with a USD 40 million subscription.
Zhuoyu’s solutions, meanwhile, are used in Chery’s iCar models but have not yet been integrated into the main brand.
When Chery folded ZDrive.ai into its tech hub in May, many industry observers interpreted it as a retreat from in-house autonomous driving development. However, with Hu’s appointment, an executive experienced in bringing smart driving systems to production, it appears Chery’s ambitions in this space remain firmly in place.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Fan Shuqi for 36Kr.