On December 29, 2021, Google's Waymo autonomous driving company suddenly announced a blockbuster news that they will carry out in-depth cooperation with Chinese auto giant Geely in the field of Robotaxi (self-driving taxi), geely will create the first Robotaxi model designed specifically for Waymo.
Less than half a month has passed, and on January 5, 2022, Geely Holdings announced that its smart electric brand Extreme Kr and Intel's autonomous driving company Mobileye have further deepened their strategic cooperation, and the two sides plan to jointly launch the world's first consumer-grade intelligent driving electric vehicle with L4 level in China in 2024.
At the beginning of 2022, Geely brought us two blockbuster news in the automobile market. And both of these news are related to the United States, and both are related to self-driving cars.
[1] Joining hands with Google, Geely will enter the US market!
Due to well-known reasons, Sino-US relations are currently good and bad, and some Chinese technology companies, such as Huawei, Douyin and other technology companies, have also been sanctioned by the US government, so in this context, it is not easy for Chinese auto companies to enter the US market.
Moreover, the U.S. auto market has long been occupied by automobile companies in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. American companies are represented by pickup truck models. Japan and South Korea itself have a close relationship with the United States, and its models have achieved good sales results in the American market. The entry of Chinese auto companies into the US market is a sign that China's own brands are really bigger and stronger, so it is very important in what way to enter the US market. And Geely's partnership with Google is a shortcut.
Currently Google-owned Waymo is the first and only technology company in the United States to offer fully driverless taxi services, and the partnership with Extreme Kr will help Waymo expand its driverless ride-hailing service at a time when the industry is becoming more competitive.
[2] In conjunction with Intel, Geely will promote the commercialization of the world's first Level 4 autonomous driving
Intel is currently the world's largest supplier of L2-level autonomous driving chips, of course, in addition to holding the L2-level autonomous driving position, it is also expanding the L4 autonomous driving business. At the recent CES 2022, Intel subsidiary Mobileye released three self-driving chips, one of which is the EyeQ Ultra, a chip for L4 autonomous driving, built based on a 5nm process, and its AI performance can reach 176TOPS, which is about 10 EyeQ5 chips.
Geely's L4 level autonomous driving model jointly created by Extreme Kr and Mobileye will be based on 6 Mobileye EyeQ5s. At the same time, Mobileye has also reached in-depth cooperation with Volkswagen Group and Ford Motor.
The model created is a mass production car that users can buy!
[3] What does the collaboration between Google, Intel, and Geely illustrate?
From Geely's cooperation with Google and Intel, we can find a lot of things. First of all, Extreme Kr is based on the SEA Haohan architecture platform, when this platform was released, Geely said that it is a shared platform, and the current partners already have Baidu's cars. This cooperation with Google is also the result of Extreme Krypton's continued promotion of the globalization of the SEA's vast architecture.
Secondly, through cooperation with Google, we will focus on driverless application scenarios and create exclusive travel service products, which are so-called self-driving taxis. This also means that the future of Extreme Kr will not only face the ordinary consumer market, but also face the taxi market and explore more businesses.
Third, from the cooperation between Geely and Google Intel, it can also be seen that it is difficult for automakers to independently develop autonomous vehicles and achieve commercialization. The cooperation of intelligent technology companies such as Baidu, Google, and Intel can accelerate the real landing of self-driving car projects. Of course, Google, Intel cooperation companies not only have Geely, but also Volkswagen, Ford and many other companies.
【Summary】
Geely Automobile from the past few years we can see a clear trend, that is, Geely to be China's Volkswagen. At present, Geely has the largest number of car brands, and has also realized the sharing of research and development results of different brands, and we have seen more Volvo shadows in the models launched by Geely in the past two years. Therefore, Geely with an inclusive mentality, using global resources to promote the development of automotive technology, by 2024 L4 self-driving cars can really land, we wait and see.