Nowadays, the era of automatic driving has become a general trend, but at the same time, international trade disputes have also brought uncertainty. The Beijing-based Horizon Company hopes to target international competitors such as Nvidia and Mobileye to supply chips for China’s self-driving cars. According to Gartner's data, by 2021, the annual revenue of the global auto-pilot automotive chip industry will more than double to $5 billion.
China hopes to reduce its focus on smartphones and TVs and focus on research and development of precision semiconductors and artificial intelligence technologies to move upstream in the global manufacturing value chain. Currently, China imports 1.75 trillion yuan worth of chips each year, even more than oil imports. Even higher.
'China must spare no effort to acquire and develop its own chip technology to enhance its own sense of security, especially when the U.S. government makes us worry about any trade protectionism against China.' Wei Shaojun, Director of the Institute of Microelectronics at Tsinghua University, Shanghai's forum activities said.
Efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the chip field are the priorities of the new Chinese government. According to Bloomberg reports, the Chinese government has established a 200 billion yuan fund to invest in local chip manufacturers.
As the world's largest automotive and electric vehicle market, Chinese regulators hope that the self-driving cars they deploy can use self-developed chips. The government expects that by 2020, the output value of parts and components for vehicles, chips and sensors in China will exceed 100 billion yuan. yuan.
"(For the autopilot industry), everyone is on the same starting line, so this creates an opportunity for China," said Ding Wenwu, president of China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund.
Horizon Robotics was founded by Yu Kai, a former Baidu artificial intelligence business leader. The company's investors include Intel Capital, Shanghai Harvest Fund Management Co., Ltd., Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, and China Jianyin Investment Co., Ltd. the company.
In December last year, Horizon Robots completed a round of $100 million in financing.
Horizon's 'Journey' 1.0 board size is smaller than a stamp. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January this year, the processor was demonstrated in GM's Yukon XL model. It is reported that the processor can detect up to 200 targets (including pedestrians, vehicles and lane markings) in real time, helping the driverless vehicle to avoid collisions.
'The Chinese company has grown from manufacturing in China to creating in China,' said Yu Kai, 42 years old. 'Now we are moving toward Chinese inventions (invented-in-China).'
Right now, Horizon is working with Volkswagen's Audi, Chongqing Changan Automobile, and auto parts maker Bosch to enter the future. In 2016, a Changan self-driving car has successfully completed a 1200-mile road test.
In the automotive industry, in order to reduce fuel consumption, the number of LED lights in automotive brake lights will be subject to rigorous scrutiny. How to process data from lasers, radars and camera sensors without losing a lot of power is for chip manufacturers. Brought great challenges.
Yu Kai said: 'It's like we are looking for a horse. It can run fast and long, but it seldom eats. If an embedded car chip consumes too much electricity, it will cause the car to rapidly degrade. Difficult to run away. '
Audi Beijing spokesperson Johanna Barth said that Audi has selected Horizons as a partner for the Chinese project and the company will evaluate the results before taking the next steps.
She said that among the cars sold outside of China, Audi still uses chips from Nvidia and Mobileye. The competition is fierce.
NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Thanks to increased demand in the autopilot industry, the company’s revenue has grown by more than 20% in seven quarters. It also partnered with Baidu to develop a self-driving car platform and plans to Install the system in the car.
"We are working with Chinese automakers, ecosystems, and global automakers selling cars in China," said Danny Shapiro, senior director of Intelli's automotive chip business.
These companies include Beijing self-driving truck startup Tucson Tucson, which plans to start commercial truck fleets in Shanghai and Arizona in the United States next year. Its investors include Nvidia.
'We are very satisfied with Nvidia's chips and its computing power is the strongest for automated driving solutions,' said the CTO of Tucson.
In the area of self-driving car chips, Mobileye is another important competitor of Chinese companies. The company is headquartered in Israel and was acquired by Intel for 15 billion U.S. dollars last year. An Intel spokesperson said that Mobileye hopes to pass its fourth-generation EyeQ chip and Road Experience. Management map system expands business in the Chinese market.
Mobileye will bring its map system to China through cooperation with Beijing Digital Maps Provider NavInfo.
Despite the challenges, China has enough funds and determination to become a force in the semiconductor development field, just as China has done in the field of electric vehicles.
On March 5, the Chinese government leaders stated at the National People’s Congress that China’s industrial priorities include becoming a leader in advanced manufacturing, including integrated circuits, 5G mobile communications, aircraft engines and new energy vehicles.
The Chinese government expects to invest about 150 billion U.S. dollars in these areas in the next 10 years.
Wei Shaojun from Tsinghua University said: 'The major governments all over the world have deployed various resources on policies, talents and capital to upgrade their industries. China is no exception.'