On December 11th, GAC Aion and Xiaoma Zhixing held a Robotaxi strategic cooperation signing ceremony at GAC Group's Panyu headquarters. According to the agreement, both parties will further cooperate to create a Robotaxi mass-produced model with commercial operational competitiveness, and jointly promote the commercialization of fully unmanned Robotaxi production.
GAC Aion and Xiaoma Zhixing held a Robotaxi strategic cooperation signing ceremony at GAC Group's Panyu headquarters.
In the presence of Ma Shu, Deputy Secretary General of Guangzhou Municipal Government, Chen Jianhua, Chief Economist of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, Feng Xingya, General Manager of GAC Group, Yu Jun, Deputy General Manager of GAC Group, Peng Jun, co-founder and CEO of Xiaoma Zhixing, and Wang Haojun, CFO of Xiaoma Zhixing, Zhang Xiong, Deputy General Manager of GAC Ai'an, and Lou Tiancheng, co-founder and CTO of Xiaoma Zhixing, signed the contract on behalf of both parties.
According to the agreement, both parties will jointly develop a fully redundant front loading mass-produced Robotaxi vehicle platform based on the software and hardware system solutions of Aion Global and Xiaoma Zhixing's seventh generation autonomous driving. At present, both parties have launched a technological battle around the research and development of autonomous driving vehicle grade kits, vehicle production, chassis redundancy safety design, and other aspects. They plan to launch at least a thousand units of the Aion Robotaxi model, with the first batch to be completed by 2025 and landing in the Greater Bay Area, covering more regions and countries in the future.
Both parties hope to integrate the intelligent manufacturing technology of GAC Aion, the world's only new energy vehicle lighthouse factory, and the full stack self-developed strength of EV+ICV, to leverage Xiaoma Zhixing's outstanding capabilities in L4 level autonomous driving technology research and development and Robotaxi product operation, jointly promote autonomous driving technology to new commercial heights, accelerate the popularization of intelligent travel modes, lead industry transformation, and create a new future transportation ecosystem. This cooperation model is the global model of Aion, which will play a role in promoting the overseas development of autonomous driving technology in the future.
Feng Xingya, General Manager of GAC Group, said, "In the wave of 'new four modernizations' in the automotive industry, the Aion brand is committed to creating' advanced, trendy, and high-quality 'intelligent new energy vehicle products, leading the path of technological innovation, and actively building a new development pattern. Robotaxi integrates a new model of intelligent vehicles and smart travel, providing a wide range of application scenarios for automotive intelligence. We are very happy to work together with Xiaoma Zhixing to explore the new Robotaxi market, promote the comprehensive transformation of intelligent connected new energy vehicles, and open up a new experience of smart travel
Peng Jun, co-founder and CEO of Xiaoma Zhixing, said, "Cooperating with GAC Aion is an important layout for Xiaoma Zhixing to continue its large-scale production and commercialization strategy of Robotaxi. As a leading global enterprise in new energy vehicles, Aion has rich technological reserves and forward-looking layout in the field of intelligent driving. 'Achieving a complete transformation of future transportation modes' is Xiaoma Zhixing's firm original intention. We hope that the future travel products we jointly create will bring users a safe, comfortable, and convenient travel experience
Guangzhou Automobile Group is committed to building an L4 travel ecosystem that covers the entire chain from independent research and development, production to commercial operation. While adhering to independent research and development, it continues to expand external cooperation. It has established a development model of "technology+mass production+operation" and has achieved commercial demonstration operation of Robotaxi through its smart travel platform, such as Qixing. Under its umbrella, GAC Aion has further popularized L2++level LiDAR advanced intelligent driving through second-generation models such as AION V Tyrannosaurus Rex and AION RT Velociraptor, with over 120000 people experiencing it in the past three months. The strong alliance between GAC Aion and Xiaoma Zhixing will jointly promote the accelerated landing and coordinated development of autonomous driving technology in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area under the integrated construction of the region.
Xiaoma Zhixing is one of the important layouts of GAC Group in the fields of autonomous driving and Robotaxi. Since 2018, Guangzhou Automobile Group has continuously strengthened cooperation with Xiaoma Zhixing in the fields of autonomous driving technology and Robotaxi. In October of this year, Guangzhou Automobile Group announced that it agreed to invest 27 million US dollars in Xiaoma Zhixing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guangzhou Automobile Capital Co., Ltd. On November 27th, Xiaoma Zhixing was officially listed on NASDAQ with the stock code "PONY", becoming the largest IPO in the field of autonomous driving in the US stock market this year.
Looking towards the future, GAC Group will further optimize its industrial chain structure and enhance its independent and controllable capabilities through a dual track approach of independent research and development and investment cooperation. Continuously consolidating the foundation of high-quality development and accelerating the transformation towards a technology-based enterprise!