Mobileye is paying increasing attention to the Chinese market.
A typical example is, according to Lu Yili, Vice President and General Manager of Mobileye China, Mobileye has built a research and development (R&D) team of over 200 people in China. Outside of Israel, where Mobileye’s headquarters is located, this R&D team is the largest one owned by Mobileye.
Lu Yili also stated that Mobileye’s local team in China is continuously expanding.
Of course, Mobileye’s emphasis on the Chinese market is not unfounded.
After all, looking at the data from 2023, Mobileye delivered 10 million chips in the Chinese market, and so far, the Chinese market is Mobileye’s largest market worldwide. At the same time, from the perspective of revenue, although it only has less than 10% of employees in mainland China, the Chinese market has contributed 30% of the revenue to Mobileye.
Against this backdrop, Mobileye is also stepping up its efforts to invest in the technological development and commercial implementation of China’s intelligent driving industry, and is striving to improve efficiency and adapt to the rapid development pace of the Chinese market.
According to Shen Ziyu, Chairman of Polestar Technology, during the Beijing Auto Show, he expressed his approval for Mobileye’s efficiency and cooperation in promoting the high-speed NOA function of Polestar 4. According to the latest data released by both parties, the Polestar 4, based on the Mobileye solution, is expected to fully roll out the high-speed NOA function in October of this year, and its urban NOA function is expected to be launched next year.
However, it is impossible to ignore that in the Chinese market where high-level intelligent driving is quickly implemented, Mobileye also faces many challenges. Many automakers, even Polestar Technology, which has a close cooperation with Mobileye, are also using NVIDIA’s intelligent driving computing platform.
Nevertheless, in the battle of intelligent driving, Mobileye remains an influential player. Based on sufficient mass production experience, Mobileye also has advantages in cost, data, and internationalization – especially in the current situation where domestic price wars and Chinese automakers are seeking to go overseas, these advantages cannot be ignored.
To clarify Mobileye’s current latest situation in the Chinese market, we had an in-depth conversation with Lu Yili, Vice President and General Manager of Mobileye China, and Shen Ziyu, Chairman and CEO of Polestar Technology during the Beijing Auto Show.
The following is the key information from this exchange, which we have edited without changing the original meaning.
Q:
What is the current status of the collaboration between Polestar and Mobileye?
A:
The current status of Polestar 4 is that ADAS is already in mass production, and we will deploy high-speed NOA this year, with internal testing in June, public testing in July, and rollout in October. There has already been a certain degree of generalized testing, and we are still very confident. Afterwards, there should be urban NOA, roughly next year.Overall, the collaboration between Polestar 4 and Mobileye, EyeQ5, and SuperVision is pretty firm.
Q:
What is Polestar’s thinking on the innovation and differentiation of intelligent driving products?
A:
At Polestar Technology, we aim for localization. In terms of intelligence, we will take a catch-up strategy.
Firstly, we will maintain our critical advantages. We embrace the genes from VOLVO, that is, safety. In terms of ADAS, VOLVO and Mobileye started the development of the first generation ADAS pretty early, even laying down the foundation for the worldwide implementation of ADAS.
Next up are some complex functions, such as the city NOA. Our platform can iterate. This part needs time, especially generalization. Meanwhile, Mobileye is a global enterprise that relies on the support of local companies. Hence, the entire chain is sophisticated.
However, I still believe that in terms of autonomous driving, we should return to the essence of the problem. As a global brand, particularly a brand related to VOLVO, we drive the entire ADAS and future intelligent driving based on safety. This approach is entirely different.
We must have strategic determination. We shouldn’t jump into the competition, which is why luxury brands like Benz are slower. We definitively consider safety as a basic criterion. We strive to enhance our intelligent driving capabilities on the premise of safety. We will not make any compromises on safety.
Q:
The competition in the field of intelligent driving chips in China is fierce. How should Mobileye respond?
A:
From the perspective of Mobileye, our strategy has three crucial dimensions: high cost-performance; safety; scalability.
Regarding competition, we believe it happens on different dimensions. We have competition on both high-end and low-end dimensions. First, let’s look at manufacturers like Nvidia. Their SoCs were not initially designed for ADAS. We know that intelligent driving systems are intricate, comprising various sensors and lidar radars as well.
Currently Chinese automakers are under tremendous price pressure. The truth is, most Chinese car manufacturers are unprofitable and even running losses. We have seen many car companies express the need to cut down on the number of hardware inputs, aiming to reduce the use of lidar radars to bring down the costs.
In terms of products, our integrated chip system for ADAS has a high cost-performance ratio, and we focus on a pure visual solution. Hence, the entire system we offer is very price-competitive. We can offer full ODD coverage, achieving hands-free/attention-forward auto driving functions.
On the low-end dimension, we’ve seen some car companies resort to non-automotive systems to cut costs, neglecting safety when using the integrated chip system. We believe such practice is not acceptable. There are also a few car companies that have inappropriately added some lidar radars and radars on top of using cameras.Q:
Does Mobileye change its perspective in the field of driving safety as it collaborates with many Tier 1 companies?
A:
Mobileye has a vast ecosystem in China, which includes almost all automakers and Tier 1 companies in the country. Needless to say, in choosing ecosystem partners, Mobileye takes it very seriously and only selects those that prioritize safety. We actively listen to the thoughts of our ecosystem partners, and their ideas do influence us to a certain extent.
Q:
With the continuous decline in the price of Lidar, it may even be installed in models under 200,000. How does Mobileye view this trend?
A:
From Mobileye’s point of view, our product roadmap has always been solid and highly scalable. We believe that intelligent driving solutions should be primarily based on vision solutions.
As for Lidar, it only becomes valuable to the entire autonomous driving system when our driving is distracted. If we don’t have an autonomous driving system to this extent, we don’t need such redundancy.
Especially from the perspective of price, the current price of cameras is very cost-effective, while Lidar is just getting started. So from a price perspective, cameras are more economical.
Q:
In addition to Mobileye’s cooperation in intelligent driving, ZEEKR has also established a corresponding cooperation with NVIDIA. How does Mobileye view this strategy?
A:
We have an excellent partnership with Geely. We’ve noticed that Geely’s intelligent driving system development relies on a dual-track system—one is to select turn-key solutions from the market and the other involves their own research. We consider this a very healthy competitive landscape, which keeps Mobileye innovative and efficient. We are very enthusiastic about such competition.
Having said that, we’re very pleased with our cooperation with Geely. In fact, ZEEKR, Polestar, smart, and VOLVO all use the Mobileye system. Geely executives have highlighted on many occasions: The cooperation with Mobileye is strong and sustainable.
For automakers, there are many advantages to partnering with global suppliers. The first is brand—many automakers must go global, which implies that if they use Mobileye’s solutions, they don’t have to design different solutions for different markets globally. One solution can support their globalization strategy. This is because suppliers like Mobileye have already done that work for them.
Q:
The current market perception is that Mobileye has been relatively lagging behind competitors like NVIDIA in the Chinese market. What do you think?A:
Perhaps the market’s current perspective on intelligent driving system chips should be adjusted. Instead of focusing solely on the numbers, consideration should be given to aspects such as cost, safety, and performance. The maturity of a product normally follows a cycle, and Mobileye is already in the productization phase of its maturity cycle in the field of intelligent driving systems.
Our intelligent driving system has already begun generating profit, which can further support our system development. This is how Mobileye views the market, therefore we focus on ourselves without commenting on our competitors.
Q:
With the growing competitiveness of the Chinese market, how will Mobileye cope?
A:
In recent years, Mobileye has increased its investment in the Chinese market. China is crucial for us. Our SuperVision project kicked off in China and the Chinese market highly recognises our technology, which allows us to further expand our efforts in China, including offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Changchun, and others.
We’ve established a powerful R&D team in China, consisting of two hundred engineers. Therefore, the development cycle for an entirely new vehicle model only takes a few months, significantly speeding up the R&D process in this field. We are continually learning and improving.
Q:
Given that the new ZEEKR 001 has adopted the Mobileye solution and is equipped with Lidar, what is your standpoint?
A:
The addition of Lidar was a requirement from the automaker. From a different perspective, they believe that incorporating Lidar provides necessary value.
From Mobileye’s standpoint, SuperVision can work with or without Lidar. If a customer requests its inclusion, we can accommodate. According to Mobileye’s product roadmap, we can rely on pure vision for L2+ level applications. For L3 and above, our plan includes the addition of Lidar.
Q:
Could you brief us on the current state of Mobileye’s R&D teams in China and globally?
A:
Around 70% of our global employees are R&D personnel. Outside of Israel, our largest R&D team is based in China. In fact, the Mobileye team is continually expanding. As our business in China grows and our revenue increases, naturally our staff count will increase. However, what we prioritize is the efficiency of our operation.
Q:
Mobileye has had a longstanding focus on intelligent driving, but why is Nvidia the first company that comes to mind when discussing urban NOA in the Chinese market?
A:
This issue is more related to marketing than technology. If this is how the market perceives and responds, then it indicates that we should invest more locally, both in marketing and communication and in improving cooperation with our OEMs and partners to build a better ecosystem.After all, “Good wine needs no bush.” Hence, this is why we will continue to intensify our investment in the Chinese market, including global ones as well. In essence, the Chinese market is currently the most crucial one for Mobileye.
Although the Mobileye brand has been in the intelligent driving sector for 25 years, our establishment in the Chinese market hasn’t spanned that long. About three to four years ago, we might have had less than 20 local employees in China. Now, we have nearly 300. Therefore, what we can see are more results and changes locally.
Q:
To be objective, Mobileye has lost some important clients in China in recent years. Namely, NIO and LI. What’s your take on this?
A:
I believe that is simply business culture, and it’s a trait of this industry. We’ve been in the market for over twenty years. Initially, VOLVO was our client, then they left, and now, they’re back.
We think the market is quite dynamic and constantly changing. We maintain our innovative strength and technological dominance and continue to steadily advance our product roadmap. We believe we will have a very positive product development trend.
Q:
By the end of this year, what is the estimated shipment volume in China and how much is it globally?
A:
Mobileye is very optimistic about both the global and Chinese markets. Last year, we delivered ten million chips to the Chinese market. The Chinese market is also the largest for Mobileye worldwide. This year’s trend is very promising, and we see more Chinese auto companies using our products.
In terms of revenue, the Chinese market contributed about 30% globally last year. Notably, Mobileye has over three thousand employees worldwide, with fewer than 300 in China, which is less than 1/10. However, our revenue contribution is 30%, so the per capita income contribution in the Chinese market is exceptionally high.
This article is a translation by AI of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.