Author: Zhu Shiyun

Editor: Qiu Kaijun

In order to dispel misunderstandings about “animated car-making,” Jidu Automobile has intensified its national tour of the production concept car ROBO-01 and further clarified the progress of car-making.

On July 20th, Jidu Automobile, a joint venture between Geely Holding and Baidu, officially announced that the long-cycle body mold for the first model has entered the processing and assembly stage. In the fall, the limited edition of Jidu’s first mass-produced car model will be officially released. At the Guangzhou Auto Show in November, Jidu will release its second car model. In 2023, the first mass-produced car will be officially launched.

Regarding the previous statement by Baidu Chairman Li Yanhong that the price of Jidu’s first mass-produced car is in the 200,000 yuan range, Jidu officials believe that it is a translation error and the actual selling price will be above 200,000 yuan.

Jidu Automobile’s new equity structure adjustment is also rapidly advancing.

On June 28th, Puhua Automobile under Geely Holding withdrew from “Jidu Automobile Co. Ltd. has undergone industrial and commercial changes and is now 100% owned by Baidu’s affiliated company,” arousing market speculation.

Regarding this, Jidu Automobile CEO Xia Yiping said: “In fact, Jidu Automobile Co. Ltd. is a domestic company registered and established early by Geely and Baidu. With the reconstruction of our structure, we no longer need this company. Now our employees have been transferred to another company.”

The other company that has emerged is Jidu Automobile (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., which has now become the parent company of Jidu’s two companies in Beijing and Shanghai.

So, what’s next for Jidu?

What will Jidu’s first mass-produced car look like?

“I can only say that the technology on the concept car will be applied to the mass-produced car under the precondition of compliance with laws and regulations,” said Luo Gang, Jidu’s operation director, to “Electric Vehicle Observer.”

On this premise, we can glimpse some information about Jidu’s first mass-produced car from the ROBO-01 concept car.

The first mass-produced car from Jidu located in the “automotive robot” field will adopt many transformative structures, including a laser radar (with a lifting patent that may be mass-produced in the future), a lifting charging port, an active tail wing, a foldable U-shaped steering wheel, a telescoping headrest, and a lifting speaker, etc.

Several physical components like door handles, left and right shift levers, and central control buttons have been canceled. Currently, the two “horns” of the camera on top of the concept car will also be invisible on the mass-produced car.

Behind these unique features is the embodiment of Jidu’s cross-domain fusion of electronic and electrical architecture and soft and hard decoupling capabilities.

Taking the cancellation of door handles as an example, without door handles, the vehicle will actively sense the positions and intentions of passengers entering or leaving the car through sensors and open the door automatically. This requires that the sensors outside the car, mainly controlled by intelligent driving, can share information with the intelligent cockpit.

Moreover, considering the requirements of functional reliability, Jidu’s first mass-produced car’s intelligent cockpit domain will be equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, boasting computing power of up to 30 TOPS, and up to 60 TOPS when overclocked. It not only meets the control requirements of new functions after several software and hardware decouplings in the cockpit but also realizes the first mass-produced offline natural language voice interaction capability.

Apart from being the first to launch Qualcomm 8295 globally, Jidu is also proud of its advanced intelligent driving capabilities. Based on Baidu Apollo’s core autonomous driving algorithm, Jidu’s first mass-produced car will deliver intelligent driving assistance capabilities for high-speed and urban driving upon hardware delivery.

“We try to make the configuration as simple as possible,” said Xia Yiping. Jidu’s mass-produced cars will come with laser radar and intelligent driving assistant systems as standard across the board, and “the only thing that may not be standard is the battery and some other decorations. We mainly consider production efficiency, so we try to keep the configuration simple.”

Jidu’s official statement claims that the similarity of A-side visual design and intelligent functions between the ROBO-01 concept car and the final delivered mass-produced car will reach 90%.

What’s Jidu Automotive’s Next Step?

While Jidu is rapidly advancing its production progress, its actions in the capital market are also worth considering.

On June 28th, Jidu Automobile, the operating entity of Jidu Automotive, underwent a business change with Shanghai HUAPU Automotive Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, withdrew, and Dazi County Bairui Xiang Entrepreneurship Investment Management Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Baidu, saw its shareholding increase to 100%.

Regarding this, Geely Holding Group and Baidu stated that the two parties’ shareholding situation in Jidu Automobile had not changed.The change from domestic ownership to Hong Kong ownership may be the greater significance behind Xia Yiping’s statement “the old company is not needed anymore”.

Public information shows that Jidu has four companies under its name: Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd., Shanghai Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Jidu), Beijing Jidu Technology Co., Ltd. (Beijing Jidu) and Jidu Automobile (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. (Hong Kong Jidu). Currently, Shanghai Jidu and Beijing Jidu are both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Hong Kong Jidu, and Li Donghui, CEO of Geely Holding Group, and Zhang Quan, CFO of Geely Holding Group, respectively serve as directors and supervisors of Hong Kong Jidu.

Some capital market practitioners speculate that the business registration changes may be related to Jidu’s construction of Variable Interest Entity (VIE) architecture to prepare for its next IPO.

When Jidu Automobile was established in March 2021, its registered capital was CNY 2 billion. In April of this year, Baidu and Geely jointly increased their holdings, promoting Jidu to complete a USD 400 million Series A financing.

“What we publicly disclosed (about the financing) is known to everyone. At an earlier point, we had a CNY 2 billion investment, and later the two shareholders invested USD 400 million. This is all the funds we have so far. But don’t worry, there will be more shareholders to support us in the future,” Xia Yiping said.

However, in the midst of changes, Xia Yiping has a clear understanding of Jidu’s core mission. “For us, making a car does not mean success, and it is definitely impossible to achieve a balance of payments at the current stage. The ultimate goal for us is to make a good car that users are interested in.”

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.