On April 9, 2012, FAW Group invested 50 million yuan to establish FAW (Nanjing) Technology Development Co. According to the description of internal employees, this is a wholly-owned subsidiary focused on intelligent driving research and development at the level of FAW Group
Similarly, a company called "MilliMax Zhi Xing" was quietly established in Beijing Fengtai in ?November? 2019.
The legal person of this company, Zhang Kai, is the deputy chief engineer and head of the intelligent driving system development department of the Great Wall Motor Technology Center, while the actual controller, Zhen Longbao, is the chief engineer of the intelligent driving system development department of the Great Wall Motor Technology Center.
Apparently, this is also Great Wall's intelligent driving affiliate.
Earlier, Chery Automobile set up Wuhu Automotive Industry Technology Research Institute Co. in ?2014?7? month, and this company changed its name to Lion Technology in ?2017?12? month.
In the broader field of intelligent vehicles, there is also Geely's affiliate Yigatong, Weichai Intelligence set up by veteran commercial vehicle parts maker Weichai Power, as well as the ?T3?technology platform jointly launched by FAW, Dongfeng, Chang'an and China National Weapons Group, among other entities. Among them, the ?T3? technology platform has the strongest financial strength, according to the cooperation joint venture agreement between several parties, the registered capital of this company is as high as ?16? billion yuan.
1, car companies must master the car "brain"
Car companies have set up intelligent driving subsidiaries behind, an Internet companies and traditional OEMs wandering between and immersed in many years of senior industry insiders told the heart of the car, "car companies can not not master the brain of the car".
The traditional mechanical era of the car model, car companies mainly do project management, responsible for putting forward the list and indicators and other requirements (RFQ), the specific design and development by the supplier is responsible for.
So, the car company actually became a system integrator, while the core technology of components is mainly in the hands of major suppliers.
From the mechanical era into the intelligent network era, its core components are no longer the engine, transmission, chassis three major components, but by the new architecture, chips, software, and data, such as the composition of the intelligent car 'brain'.
If the "brain" is still in the hands of external suppliers, car companies will lose the right to dominate the future development, and even be reduced to a foundry. Tesla's rapid rise is largely due to its control of the car 'brain' and change.
Today, domestic OEMs have also set up technology innovation centers, and their autonomous driving, Internet of Vehicles (IoV), and ?AI? technologies are gradually moving into the stage of operating as independent subsidiaries.
The biggest benefit of setting up a separate company to develop and operate new-generation technology products is that, on the basis of backing the resources of the parent company, it can be independent of the parent company's structure and enjoy a higher degree of freedom.
The establishment of these companies means that China's smart car industry chain is undergoing a profound structural change.
In the future, these companies will have the opportunity to change the current supply chain system and become a new type of supplier for smart cars.
2, FAW south, high salary to build Nanjing?AI?R & D team
2020?April?9?2020, FAW Group spent?50?million yuan in Nanjing Jiangning District, Nanjing City, registered to set up the FAW (Nanjing) Science and Technology Development Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as "FAW Nanjing").
The new company's office in Jiangning District has yet to be renovated, but it has already begun recruiting?AI?talent from around the world.
According to FAW Nanjing's official introduction, the team will rely on deep learning, data mining and other technologies, and is committed to making independent breakthroughs in software development for autonomous driving, intelligent interaction and big data, which can be applied in areas such as autonomous driving and intelligent cockpits.
A headhunter close to FAW Nanjing told AutoNews that the subsidiary is currently recruiting talents in data development, algorithms, vision, and perceptual fusion.
Faw Nanjing is subordinate to the FAW Research and Development Institute, FAW internal known as the old automotive research. One of the benefits of being an independent company from the original organizational structure is that it "can break through the original salary structure.
According to FAW Nanjing's internal staff disclosure, the starting annual salary for graduate recruitment is CNY?200?000+, with supervisory level between CNY?35?-?500?000.
For comparison, "a director in the traditional automotive direction might also be around ?400?000. So it makes sense for this?AI?tech development team not to be in Changchun.
In the new company's governance structure, Chen Bo is the general manager and Li Fengjun is the executive director.
Chen Bo is the head of the network group at FAW's Intelligent Network Development Institute, and was previously responsible for the development of the?E/E?vehicle network, while Li Fengjun is currently vice president of FAW's Research and Development Institute and president of the Intelligent Network Development Institute.
At the group level, the establishment of FAW Nanjing is a brand new attempt.
Before this, FAW has established strategic cooperation within the group with Baidu, Huawei, Zongmu Technology, YiTuTong, and Suteng Juchuang.
In July 2019, FAW Red Flag released its "2030?Year Technology Development Strategy," announcing that it would invest ?150?billion yuan in research and development and investment in new energy and intelligent internet technology, and increase its research and development staff to ?5,000?people, to make an all-out run toward new energy and intelligence.
In the same year, Red Flag also invested in a small-scale production line with Baidu*** to mass-produce the Red Flag?EV?based?Robotaxi.
In terms of automated driving, the overall strategic plan announced by FAW is:
In 2019? -?2020? year, FAW Group will realize the commercialization of ?L3? level self-driving vehicles and the demonstration operation of ?L4? level self-driving vehicles; 2021? year? -?2025? the commercialization of L4-level self-driving vehicles and demonstration operation of L5-level self-driving vehicles will be realized; 2026? -?2030? the commercialization of?L5?level self-driving vehicles will be realized.
Newly, FAW Group has signed in-depth strategic cooperation agreements with Huawei, Tencent, Baidu, Aliyun, AutoZone, IBM, NTTDATA? and other?7?head companies.
*** and the country's firstborn son of the automotive industry, mastering the independent and controllable automotive "brain" demand is urgent.
3, Lion Technology, Wu Xuebin returned to Chery at the helm of intelligence
Chery Automobile as early as ?2014? year ?7? month on the establishment of the Wuhu Automotive Industry Technology Research Institute, and then in ?2017? year ?12? month this company was renamed Wuhu Lion Automotive Technology (hereinafter referred to as "Lion Technology").
Lion Technology is currently establishing or building branches of its R&D organization in Silicon Valley, Shenzhen and Shanghai, and like FAW Nanjing Technology is also recruiting senior intelligent network engineers in Nanjing.
In April 2018, Chery unveiled the group's intelligent strategic brand "Chery Lion?Chery?Lion", which consists of five platforms, namely Lion Smart Driving, Lion Smart Cloud, Lion Smart Manufacturing, Lion Smart Winning and Lion Smart Walking.
Among them, Lion Smart Driving, Lion Smart Cloud and Lion Smart Win are the core business segments of Lion Technology, corresponding to the automatic driving, intelligent interconnection and data operation businesses, respectively.
According to the official introduction of Lion Technology, the company currently owns ?564? invention patents, has completed the development of the third generation of driverless vehicles, and the Lion SmartCloud system has been fully equipped with Chery Ruihu ?8? models and the subsequent listing on the model.
Wu Xuebin, who has a deep connection with Chery, was publicly unveiled as the general manager and new helmsman of Chery's Xionglion at an industry conference in Hefei, Anhui province, in September?2019.
Wu Xuebin has served as director of the Chery Engineering Research Institute's model development department, vice president of BAIC, vice president of Baidu's intelligent driving business, and vice president of Baoneng, among other positions, and these experiences have brought him cross-border experience in the fields of Internet technology, traditional automobiles, and intelligent vehicles.
After 16 years, Wu Xuebin returned to Chery to promote the "rise" of Chery's intelligent car.
4, the Great Wall to the north, the establishment of intelligent driving company "milli-milli Zhixing"
In November?2019, a company called "milli-milli Zhixing" was quietly registered in Fengtai, Beijing, with a legal person of Zhang Kai, and the actual controller is Zhen Longbao, with a registered capital of ?5000?000 million yuan.
And later in ?2020?January?, MilliMax Zhixing set up a branch in Baoding, Hebei province, which has a registered address of ?2076? Chaoyang South Street, Lianchi District, Baoding.
On this street is another familiar independent brand, Great Wall Motor.
And Zhang Kai and Zhen Longbao, the former is the deputy chief engineer of the Great Wall Motor Technology Center and the head of the Intelligent Driving System Development Department; the latter is the chief engineer of the Intelligent Driving System Development Department of the Great Wall Motor Technology Center.
Basically, it can be confirmed that MilliMax is incubated in the intelligent driving foresight division of the Great Wall Technology Center, and will specialize in the research and development of intelligent cars and autonomous driving technology in the future.
Great Wall Motor has previously released its "i-pilot? intelligent pilot" autonomous driving platform developed for intelligent driving cars.
The carmaker's plan announced in 2017?when it launched its 'i-pilot?Intelligent Pilot' self-driving platform was:
In 2021?it will first launch 'i-pilot?1.0' highway self-driving, which will be able to operate on the main roads and ramps of China's highways and urban expressways, and in addition will be able to autonomously cope with road repairs, In 2021, the development of "i-Pilot?2.0" urban driverless technology will be carried out simultaneously, which can realize driverless driving in specific sections of urban areas, and be used to support new functions such as ****-enjoyed trips and cell phone remote summoning, etc. In 2023, "i-Pilot?3.0" full-time driverless system will be launched, which can operate in urban areas and urban expressways through the introduction of V2X vehicle communication technology, and is capable of operating autonomously in urban areas and on the main roads of urban expressways. In 2023, the "i-pilot?3.0" full-time driverless system will be introduced, enabling driverless driving in urban areas and beyond through the introduction of "V2X" vehicle communication technology, and in 2025, the "i-pilot?4.0" driverless system, which is safer and more adaptable, will be introduced through the introduction of new sensors.
At present, the development of Great Wall Motor's intelligent driving system implements a model of collaborative research and development in Baoding, China, Detroit, U.S.A., and Bangalore, India.
The Chinese team is responsible for overall project management, scenario and requirement definition, and technical program definition, testing and verification. The U.S. team, located in Detroit, absorbs and recruits the best talents to support the core technology, while the Indian team relies on local resources to specialize in software development.
5, Yigatong, Geely Automobile's "Geek?UI"
Yigatong was founded in ?2016?May?month, at the beginning by Shen Ziyu and Ningbo YiJie equity investment fund management partnership *** with the same capital of ?10?million yuan registered.
Shen Ziyu was previously the CEO of Botai Electronic Networks, and after leaving Botai, Shen Ziyu also served as vice president of the Geely Automotive Research Institute while serving as CEO of Yigatong.
Yiqatong has built a very important?TSP (Telematics?Service?Provider) cloud platform for Geely.
In 2018?2018, its main intelligent car machine system,?GKUI? was released, and is now carried on Geely Holdings' Geely, Link and Proton?3?brands, involving?more than 20?models.
In February?2019, with the change of shareholders of Yigatong, Zhejiang Jichuang Auto Parts Co. became the major shareholder of Yigatong (accounting for ?70% of the shares), and Geely Automobile ?CTO ?Feng Kengfeng became the chairman of Yigatong.
Now Yigatong has a staff of about 1,500 people and has set up branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Dalian, Shenzhen and Volvo's hometown of Sweden, with business areas covering digital cockpit, active safety, autonomous driving, cloud platform for Telematics and even chips.
Besides Yigatong, Geely also has affiliates in the?ADAS?field, such as Foretec, as well as its selection of Volvo's?Veoneer?joint venture?Zenuity?as a preferred supplier of?ADAS?and autonomous driving in?2019.
That company was spun off again in?April?this year, with its high-level automated driving business returning to Volvo and subsequently becoming a separate subsidiary.
With the integration of Geely and Volvo, Yigatong, Foratec and ?Zenuity? will become Geely's core supplier lineup for the layout of smart cars.
6, Weichai Intelligent, the second spring of the old commercial vehicle suppliers
Automotive Heart previously reported?2019?November?month, Weichai Power low-profile acquisition of intelligent driving startup Tianjin Qingzhi science and technology, the layout of the commercial vehicle?ADAS?field, the acquisition of 660?million yuan has also become the first acquisition of China's intelligent driving field.
Internally, in November 2018?2018, Weichai Power Co. also initiated the establishment of Weifang Weichai Intelligent Science and Technology Co. This company has a registered capital of ?100?000 million yuan, and the former Baidu unmanned vehicle U.S. research team of Zhanjun is also a shareholder of the company.
According to the introduction, Weichai Intelligent Technology is mainly engaged in the design, development, production and sales of intelligent assisted driving and unmanned driving systems and their related technologies.
The recruitment information shows that Weichai Intelligent is vigorously recruiting technology leaders in the direction of intelligent network connection, with an annual salary of one million to start.
The recruitment includes technical leaders in automotive electronic architecture, ADAS, domain controller, functional safety, intelligent network connection, engine?ECU, cloud platform and chip design, etc., and it is a globalized layout, including China, the United States, Germany, India, Japan and other regions.
7, 16?billion yuan of registered capital, backed by three major car companies: T3?technology platform
2020?year?January?month, FAW, Dongfeng, Chang'an three major automobile companies and China National Weapons and Equipment Group, Nanjing Jiangning Economic and Technological jointly signed a joint venture cooperation agreement of?T3?technology platform company.
The signing of the ?T3? technology platform company registered capital of ?160? billion yuan, in the layout of many car companies can be said to be the strongest financial strength.
160? billion yuan, FAW, Dongfeng and Jiangning Jingkai science and technology respectively contributed ?4? billion yuan, Changan and its de facto controller, China National Weapons and Equipment Group, respectively, contributed ?5? billion yuan and ?3.5? billion yuan *** counted ?4? billion yuan.
This automotive high-tech platform "mega" project will focus on new energy, intelligent Internet and other technology trends, focusing on research and development of core technologies in the areas of electric platforms and advanced chassis control, hydrogen fuel-powered platforms, intelligent driving and centralized computing platforms, and access to key resources in related areas, in order to achieve a new round of automotive technology upgrades and promote the formation of the core competitiveness of next-generation automobiles.
Some industry insiders believe that several of China's major independent brand car companies have joined forces in such a big way to set up ?T3?Technology, in fact, in order to reduce costs and control risks in the early stages of technology research and development.
Heavy bets on?T3, the three big car companies can play "king bomb", waiting for time to give the answer.
8, why car companies have set up subsidiaries?
In addition to the above enterprises, China's own brand of intelligent technology new company, there are SAIC and Ali joined forces with Zebra Intelligence, Changan joined forces with Tencent set up Sycamore car alliance, Great Wall's car networking affiliates Xindou Intelligence and so on.
The establishment of a series of innovative technology companies and joint ventures fully demonstrates that OEM executives have realized that independent research and development of intelligent automotive technology can brook no delay.
There are many considerations behind the establishment of external subsidiaries to operate independently:
First, it is conducive to the recruitment of high-end talents.
High-end talent cares about two factors: remuneration and space for development.
Referring to the more solid salary system within the traditional automobile enterprises, the external subsidiaries have more freedom to give out high salaries, and the subsidiaries can also carry out equity incentives.
Traditional car companies have a stable organizational structure, and the decision-making power is already in the hands of the existing top management, so the talents who really understand the new technology, new products, and new business models often do not have the opportunity to have a say in the new projects.
If an external subsidiary is established, real talent will have more opportunities to take on greater responsibility. Even if there is a temporary mismatch of talents, the so-called "small boat" can be quickly adjusted.
Secondly, the independent subsidiary will facilitate external financing.
The research and development of new technology products and the exploration of new business models all imply large capital investment. Splitting the subsidiary is conducive to independent financing and obtaining more third-party resource support.
Moreover, the independent subsidiary will be able to supply products and services to other car companies in addition to serving the parent company in the future.
While the feasibility of this model is not high in the early stage, it is a much healthier model to have the opportunity to supply products and services to other car companies at a later stage when the company has grown and its technological leadership is fully established.
Historically, GM's spun-off Delphi, Toyota's spun-off Denso, and Ford's spun-off Visteon are all parts giants born out of change.
We also look forward to the opportunity for new top suppliers to be born from the independent subsidiaries of China's own-brand automakers, to build China's smart-car 'brain'.
This article comes from the author of the automobile home car family number, does not represent the views of the automobile home position.