2025 Zeekr X Launches; World Artificial Intelligence Conference Opens; All-New Electric MINI Cooper Arrives | E Week Highlights

01Weekly Index

02Weekly News

Zeekr X 2025 Model Officially Launched

On July 1, the 2025 Zeekr X was officially launched with a starting price of RMB 179,000. Customers can place orders via the Zeekr App, the Zeekr website, and Zeekr stores in major cities nationwide.

The 2025 Zeekr X features significant improvements in integrated design and optimized configurations. The launch event utilized an immersive scenario livestream powered by the vehicle’s external discharge function, revealing a new exterior color: Miami Orange.

The updated Zeekr X is available in two body styles: a four-seat Magic Cube version and a five-seat Sport version. The four-seat Magic Cube variant is equipped with 4D cloud zero-gravity seats and foldable rear seat cushions to enhance passenger comfort. The five-seat Sport version adds a magic center console with 7 liters of storage space; the front supports 50W wireless fast charging for mobile phones, while the rear offers an optional console refrigerator.

The five-seat Sport version is powered by a high-performance permanent magnet synchronous electric drive system featuring a dual-motor setup (front and rear), achieving a 0–100 km/h acceleration time of just 3.7 seconds. The 2025 Zeekr X boasts a 720° all-around safety armor, capable of withstanding a top-load pressure of up to 9 tons. Its side protection utilizes an eight-grid design, and the battery pack incorporates six major safety measures. In Euro NCAP testing, the Zeekr X earned a five-star safety rating.

Notably, on the day of the launch, Zeekr X received its OS 5.2 OTA update, which refined over 100 details and added or improved more than 30 functions. These include a new HMI 3.0 interface design, green wave traffic assistance, traffic light countdowns, a HUD mini-map, a 3D immersive navigation mode, Sentry Mode, and independent folding of the rearview mirrors during reversing.

Additionally, Zeekr announced a new color for the Zeekr 007: Interstellar Purple. In June, total deliveries across all Zeekr models exceeded 20,000 units for the first time, reflecting strong market recognition of the brand. Limited-time purchase benefits were also introduced for the Zeekr 007 and Zeekr 001.

Quick Review:

The new Zeekr X brings significant improvements in design, performance, safety, and comfort, particularly its high-performance permanent magnet synchronous electric drive system and 720° all-around safety armor. Meanwhile, Zeekr's continuous efforts in user experience are worthy of praise, such as the push of OS 5.2 OTA which also enhances user experience.

World Artificial Intelligence Conference Opens

The 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC 2024) were held in Shanghai from July 4 to July 7. The conference featured numerous topics related to AI and robotics, showcasing the latest technological advancements and application prospects. Attendees discussed how artificial intelligence can drive the development of robotics and explored the potential applications of autonomous driving in future transportation.

Shangtangjueying Debuts at 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference

SenseTime Shangtangjueying drew widespread attention with its intelligent driving and smart cockpit products based on the company’s 'Rixin 5.5' multimodal large model.

At the conference, SenseTime Shangtangjueying showcased its autonomous driving large model, DriveAGI, and released automotive AI agent applications such as the generative in-car interactive interface 'FlexInterface' and 'AgentFlow'. Additionally, SenseTime Shangtangjueying’s autonomous shuttle bus made its debut at this year’s WAIC, undertaking shuttle tasks to demonstrate its practical capabilities.

At the AI forum on July 5, SenseTime unveiled the "Rixin 5.0" model and demonstrated the multimodal interaction experience of its "Rixin 5.5" large model. SenseTime co-founder Xiaogang Wang stated that Shangtangjueying is driving the integration of multimodal large models with smart vehicles, aiming to provide a more natural human-machine interaction experience.

Multimodal large models integrate voice, text, images, gestures, and video to provide natural human-machine interaction. SenseTime's "Rixin 5.5" system supports a multimodal large model that is end-to-end, capable of simultaneously processing information across text, voice, and video modalities, demonstrating its adaptability across different computing platforms.

SenseTime and its joint laboratories' autonomous driving general model, UniAD, won an award at the 2023 IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). Shangtangjueying showcased UniAD in real-vehicle demonstrations within complex road scenarios and developed DriveAGI, a driving decision-planning large model. DriveAGI enhances system interpretability and interactivity, enabling it to understand complex real-world environments, explain the reasoning behind driving decisions, and control autonomous driving behaviors via voice or gesture commands.

Shangtangjueying is developing a multimodal large model engine product called "CockpitBrain," and has released generative interactive interface products: "FlexInterface" and "AgentFlow." These products dynamically generate personalized interfaces and complete complex tasks through natural language. Additionally, Shangtangjueying demonstrated "Multimodal Sentinel," which can understand and respond to behaviors that might damage the vehicle, ensuring vehicle safety.

Shangtangjueying's large model products are already applied in mass-produced models from several mainstream automotive manufacturers and have been deployed for autonomous shuttle services in multiple locations, showcasing their broad application prospects in smart vehicles and intelligent mobility.

On the morning of July 5, during the "Great Love Without Borders · New Momentum" AI forum, SenseTime announced that Shangtangjueying had achieved the first-in-industry deployment of a native multimodal large model on the vehicle side. This breakthrough marks a significant step for SenseTime in in-vehicle artificial intelligence, highlighting its leading position in multimodal perception and interaction capabilities.

SenseTime's Shangtangjueying 8-billion-parameter on-device model achieves a first-packet latency of under 300 milliseconds and an inference speed of 40 tokens per second, while supporting mainstream computing platforms. These performance metrics offer a significant competitive advantage in the current automotive AI landscape, enabling faster and more efficient responses for in-vehicle systems.

At the WAIC 2024 booth, Shangtangjueying demonstrated its ability to run 2.1 billion or 8 billion parameter edge-side multimodal large models across multiple different computing platforms. In particular, the vehicle-mounted deployment solution for the 8 billion model on a 200 TOPS+ platform showcased its powerful multimodal perception and interaction capabilities. This demonstration not only proved Shangtangjueying's technical strength but also provided new possibilities for the development of future in-vehicle intelligent products.

Shangtangjueying has developed a high-performance computing engine called "HyperPPL" specifically for multimodal large models. This engine supports mainstream automotive computing hardware and operating systems, and adapts to deployment platforms for multiple automotive chips. HyperPPL supports more than 400 hardware operators, including flash decode and segment prefill, and optimizes operator performance. It supports int8 and int4 modes as well as post-training quantization, achieving extreme inference efficiency. On the Orin platform, inference speed exceeds 40 tokens per second, with significant advantages in memory usage.

Shangtangjueying will collaborate with partners to create new in-vehicle intelligent products, further driving the development and application of in-vehicle artificial intelligence technology. Through cooperation with leading enterprises in the industry, SenseTime hopes to accelerate the popularization of in-vehicle intelligent products, providing users with a smarter and more convenient driving experience.

NIO at the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference

On July 6, NIO Senior Vice President Shen Fei delivered a speech at a sub-forum of the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, detailing NIO Energy's battery separation model and its practical cases in charging and swapping network layout, virtual power plants, and local energy management. Shen Fei pointed out that the maturity of artificial intelligence technology has promoted the integration of the automotive, power battery, and energy power industries, creating new business models.

NIO Energy has established a nationwide charging and battery-swapping network that is shared with the industry. As a carrier of technological innovation across multiple fields, smart electric vehicles are becoming an important driving force for economic growth. The intelligence and electrification of new energy vehicles further promote the integration of transportation and energy, as well as vehicle-to-grid interaction. Integration of transportation and energy refers to the convergence of four networks: transportation services, infrastructure, information, and energy. Smart electric vehicles connect the supply and demand sides of energy within the transportation system, serving as a key link in both transportation-energy integration and vehicle-to-grid interaction.

As of July 6, the 1,767 battery swap stations operated by NIO Energy participated in grid peak-shaving charging, accumulating more than 330,000,000 kWh of peak-shaved electricity. NIO Energy has participated in virtual power plant and secondary frequency regulation markets both domestically and internationally, and collaborates with grid enterprises and industrial park operators to carry out user-side energy management, building low-carbon service areas and microgrids based on electric vehicle charging and discharging.

In terms of charging and swapping technology upgrades and product R&D, NIO has built 2,442 battery swap stations and 22,818 charging piles, becoming the world's largest operator of a smart electric vehicle battery swapping network. NIO Energy has also reached strategic cooperation agreements on charging and swapping with multiple enterprises in the automotive and power sectors, promoting the integration of transportation and energy as well as vehicle-to-grid interaction.

NIO's battery swap stations participate in grid regulation as "virtual power plants," providing frequency regulation ancillary services and discharging power to the grid. Shen Fei stated that the battery separation model and the battery swapping business model have transformed power batteries into independent mobile energy carriers, with swap stations serving as energy storage nodes for vehicle-to-grid interaction. NIO Energy will collaborate with partners to promote the construction of an integrated "vehicle-energy-road-cloud" ecosystem, supporting high-quality development of the intelligent electric vehicle industry.

Quick Review:

At the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Shangtangjueying attracted widespread attention with its multimodal large model technology. It showcased the intelligent driving large model DriveAGI, along with generative interaction interfaces such as "FlexInterface" and "AgentFlow," and demonstrated an autonomous driving shuttle in practical applications. Additionally, SenseTime released the "Risen 5.0" and "Risen 5.5" large models, highlighting its technological advancements in multimodal perception and human-computer interaction.

NIO showcased its battery-swap model and charging/swapping network layout, emphasizing the role of artificial intelligence in the integration of the automotive, battery, and energy sectors. NIO's charging and swapping network and virtual power plant projects demonstrate its forward-looking exploration in the fields of smart electric vehicles and energy management.

New MINI Cooper Electric Model Launched

On July 6, Beijing — The all-new electric MINI Cooper has officially launched, offering five models: The Player, The Classic, The Artist, The Racers, and a 1/65 Limited Edition, priced at RMB 189,800, RMB 209,800, RMB 239,800, RMB 259,800, and RMB 266,800 respectively.

The new model maintains classic body proportions while extending the front and rear track widths by 54 mm and 42 mm, respectively, to enhance stability and handling agility. It introduces MINI’s ARB acceleration slip regulation system for the first time, further optimizing the iconic MINI chassis design with highly preloaded anti-roll bars to improve grip.

The all-new electric MINI Cooper underwent a rigorous validation process described as "three years, three highs, and 3 million kilometers." Global testing mileage totaled 3 million kilometers, including multiple high-temperature, high-humidity, and extreme-cold tests conducted in Sweden, China, France, and South Africa. Testing within mainland China covered 1.72 million kilometers.

The vehicle retains MINI’s signature proportions, featuring round headlights, circular exterior mirrors, an OLED circular screen inside, and circular door handles. Paint colors are inspired by the Mondrian palette, combining red, green, white, black, blue, and yellow.

In terms of digitalization, the all-new electric MINI Cooper features a circular OLED central control screen paired with the ninth-generation MINI operating system interface, offering a fresh alternative to homogeneous infotainment systems. Seven "MINI Experience Modes" allow drivers to adjust vehicle performance, integrating new MINI soundscapes and ambient lighting configurations.

The interior also features a new sustainable cabin design that extensively incorporates innovative eco-friendly materials. The cabin trim panels are covered with a new type of eco-friendly fabric, which is relatively easy to maintain.

Quick Review:

The launch of the all-new electric MINI represents a fresh attempt for the brand, helping it smoothly transition its product lineup from purely internal combustion to a dual track of gasoline and electric vehicles. This shift makes MINI more suitable for urban commuting in the eyes of many domestic and international users. At the same time as electrification, MINI has retained its classic design language and shared components across both fuel and electric versions, lowering the threshold for many customers to purchase an electric model. It is believed that many long-time MINI owners will be willing to try the new MINI.

Written by: Yisong Edited by: Yisong