BYTON luxury sedan concept to make world debut at CES Asia 2018

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China's premium intelligent EV maker BYTON exposed some parts of its second model, a luxury sedan concept. The concept is slated to make its world debut at the "BYTON's night" on the eve of the CES Asia 2018 on June 12. At the BYTON's night, the EV startup will also showcase its design envision and exploration in autonomous driving era.
The debut of BYTON's luxury sedan concept will further embody the class-leading designing advantages of BYTON.

The new concept inherits the design tactics of "visible intelligence", combining new design elements like autonomous driving sensors with traditional vehicle features. Incorporating elegance, fashion, luxury and dynamic, the model accentuates the digital features and defines new aesthetics for the designing of autonomous vehicles.

In addition, the new sedan retains BYTON's iconic design style like the intelligent expression and connecting lines, featuring high recognition. The model also adopts newly-designed C-pillar with graceful lines, demonstrating an excellent aerodynamic performance. The BYTON luxury sedan concept is the second model based on BYTON's EV-exclusive platform.
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• 4JD.com joins force with Tenneco, Continental to further deploy in wearing auto parts
• 5BYTON luxury sedan concept to make world debut at CES Asia 2018

NIO said to deliver ES8 in June

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China EV startup NIO held an opening ceremony for its first Shanghai-based NIO House on May 26. By far, five NIO Houses have opened up in Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai.
Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO attended the ceremony and answered several questions that confused the public. In terms of its cooperation modes with other automakers, Qin Lihong said that NIO has two major cooperation modes. One is a deep strategic cooperation mode with JAC, which is mainly embodied in vehicle manufacturing. For example, in order to manufacture NIO's models like the ES8, JAC has invested several million yuan in building an all-new manufacturing factory, which is planned to have a full production capacity of 100,000 units.
Another cooperation mode is called joint establishment that both parties will establish an all-new enterprise with same investments, but may not focus on NIO brand. Take GAC NIO as an example. The new enterprise will have different brand, products and customer services from NIO and GAC, but can share NIO and GAC's resources in R&D, parts supply system, logistics and IT. In addition, both parties will incubate other teams based on the new enterprise's platform.
As to the process of factory manufacturing, JAC and NIO's factory has started operation in October, 2017. At first, the factory started to manufacture test models, and then embarked on producing models at a small scale. By the end of May, the factory began large-scale mass production. The production capacity is slated to reach 10,000 units by the end of this year.
When it comes to the specific delivery data of the NIO ES8, Qin Lihong said the delivery is just in the corner, but the specific date hasn't been determined yet. Qin Lihong also added that NIO House pays much emphasis on customer experience. 80% space of NIO House will be applied into customer experience, while the rest 20% will be used to show off NIO's models. Well-maintained facilities and customer satisfaction embody NIO House's most distinctive characteristics.
Qin Lihong said that NIO boasts abundant of funds to afford its operation. Reportedly, the Tencent-backed EV startup submitted an initial confidential filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the share sale is likely to raise around $2 billion. However, the size of the deal may change.
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• 3BYD Yuan EV360 goes on sale with price starting from RMB 79,900
• 4EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing
• 5What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?

China, Japan governments agree to cooperate in autonomous driving field

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China and Japan will cooperate in autonomous driving field, Miao Wei, Minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Hiroshige Seko, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry reached a consensus in Tokyo on May 28, according to NHK, Japan's largest broadcasting organization.
Reportedly, this was the first time that two governments reached a consensus on the cooperation in autonomous driving area. Japan wishes to promote its advanced technologies in China, the world's largest auto market.
According to NHK, both parties agreed to collaborate on setting rules for autonomous vehicle public road test and formulating international standards on communication infrastructure.
Under the agreement, China and Japan will hold working-level negotiations in July in Beijing. In addition, two countries will conduct a seminar on technical development by the end of this year, involving both the governments and the public from two countries.
“The communication and information exchanges between China and Japan are becoming increasingly important as China boosts its efforts on market opening-up and structural reform.” Japan's Seko said.
Miao stated that two countries are important economic and trading partners. He expressed the hope to expand bilateral cooperation in various areas.
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• 1CATL sells 10% stake at RMB 25.14 per share
• 2China, Japan governments agree to cooperate in autonomous driving field
• 3First model of Chery EXEED to hit market at end of this year
• 4NIO said to deliver ES8 in June
• 5BYD, Daimler to invest RMB 800 

What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Baidu announced on May 18 the departure of the group's COO and president Lu Qi, which heavily shocked the Internet circle. During the past several years, the Chinese Internet giant has been changing its senior executives, especially in autonomous driving area. Gasgoo summarized some key senior executives or experts that had made significant contribution to the development of Baidu's intelligent driving cause during their tenure. Although they did different routes after resigning from Baidu, most of them still chose autonomous driving or AI as their future battle field.
Lu Qi

Due to “personal and family reasons,” Lu Qi will leave the management roles as Baidu's president and COO, but stay as vice chairman of the company board of directors, Baidu announced on May 18. Affected by his abrupt departure, Baidu's share prices slumped 9.54% on the same day.
Lu Qi joined Baidu in January, 2017 as group's COO and president and has served as vice chairman of the board of directors since February, 2017. During his tenure, he has made great contribution to Baidu's development, especially in intelligent driving area. On March 1, 2017, Lu grouped the autonomous driving unit (L4), the intelligent vehicle unit (L3) and IoV (Internet of Vehicles) unit into an Intelligent Driving Group (IDG), which was directly headed by himself. Then in April last year, Baidu launched its autonomous driving platform the Apollo, which has currently won 100 partners worldwide.
Wu Xuebin

Baidu confirmed on January 23 that its vice president Wu Xuebin has submitted a resignation and would leave for Baoneng Group, taking charging of automobile businesses in the new company.
On September 28, 2016, Wu Xuebin joined Baidu as vice president in charge of the company's autonomous driving unit. Before that, Wu had previously worked at BAIC Group, a Chinese state-owned auto enterprise. Besides, his life in auto industry also includes the experience he served for General Motors, Ford and Porsche, etc. During his tenure in Baidu, Wu managed the external cooperative matters for Apollo autonomous driving platform and other auto-related businesses of Baidu.
Wang Jing

Wang Jing, Baidu's former senior vice president and ex-general manager of the company's autonomous driving unit, announced on March 27, 2017 that he would resign from Baidu in April and set up his own company.
Wang joined Baidu in April 2010 and was promoted as senior vice president in December 2012, before serving as general manager of the autonomous driving unit since December 2015. In the same month he officially left Baidu, Wang established his own autonomous driving startup named JingChi.ai.
On December 22, 2017, Baidu filed a lawsuit in Beijing Intellectual Property accusing JingChi.ai and its founder Wang Jing  of infringement on its commercial secrets, not returning devices that contained classified information, and poaching technical personnel. Wang Jing responded that Baidu's prosecution was totally untenable.
The case came across a dramatic turning in March. JingChi.ai has officially joined Baidu Apollo autonomous driving platform, while its founder Wang Jing left his own company for “family issue”, succeeded by Tong Han, the startup's new CEO. Although Baidu dropped the lawsuit against JingChi.ai, it is still suing Wang Jing.
Andrew Ng

Andrew Ng, a leading figure in the world of artificial intelligence, left his post as chief scientist at Baidu in March last year.
“I will be resigning from Baidu and opening up a new chapter of my work in AI”, he announced through his social accounts.
After joining Baidu in 2014, Ng helped develp an AI-first strategy. He oversaw the creation of the Silicon Valley AI Lab in California and led a AI team of more than 1,300 researchers, among which 300 were from Baidu.
Three months after he left Baidu, Ng confirmed that he had joined self-driving vehicle startup Drive.ai and became one of the directors. In December, 2017, Ng announced the establishment of the AI startup Landing.ai, where he served as CEO. The AI startup aims to help enterprise transform for the age of AI.
Ni Kai

Ni Kai, the former director of Baidu's self-driving vehicle project, left Baidu in December 2015 and then was hired as vice president at LeEco's autonomous driving unit.
Ni joined Baidu in 2013 as the senior scientist of the Institute of Deep Learning, and was in charge of the R&D of Baidu's self-driving vehicle and unmanned aircraft projects.
Currently, he was the founder and CEO of the autonomous driving startup HoloMatic, which was established in August 2017. The company aims to deliver level 3.5 production-ready autonomous driving functions. To be specific, it focuses on developing level 4 automatic driving solutions, and then applies the technologies in level 3 system, which is under a higher security standard and suitable for mass production at the same time.
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• 1BYD Yuan EV360 goes on sale with price starting from RMB 79,900
• 2EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing
• 3What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?
• 4Overview of CATL’s automaker partners
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EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Sitech, a Guizhou-based electric vehicle maker, officially formed partnership with the world-leading auto parts provider Bosch on May25. In the future, both parties will jointly develop projects like AVP (automated valet parking) and apply such technologies into the EV maker's vehicles.

According to Gasgoo, the cooperation between Sitech and Bosch mainly includes three aspects. The first is to jointly develop and upgrade the Sitech DEV1, the startup's first EV model, which will carry AVP technology in the future. The second is to proceed with the AVP pilot operation in Guian New Area and Guiyang, Guizhou Province. In addition, two companies will jointly promote the programs of smart city and smart transportation.
Besides, the EV startpup announced the completion of a Series-A round financing on the same day, which was led by CDH Investments, raising a total capital of over hundreds of million dollars.

Founded on September 1, 2017, Sitech is a state-owned company owning assets up to RMB 270 billion. On January 6, 2018, the EV maker signed a framework agreement with FAW Car to co-develop EVs based on FAW Car's qualification of electric passenger vehicle production.
Before the Auto China 2018 kicked off in Beijing, Sitech unveiled its firs EV model the DEV1, with prices below RMB 100 thousand and a range of around 320km. Reportedly, the Sitech DEV1 will officially go on sale in the Chengdu Motor Show in September this year. The company is set to deliver its first order of 4,000 DEV1s by the end of 2018 and aims to achieve a maximum delivery of 90,000 units next year.
Sitech's prototype shop in Guian New Area has currently been put into operation and is mainly used to conduct vehicle tests. Reportedly, the company's new intelligent factory will be fully operational in 2019 with an expected production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year.
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• 1EV startup Sitech cooperates with Bosch in AVP, ends over $ 100 million A round financing
• 2What are those Baidu ex-big names in autonomous driving doing now?
• 3Overview of CATL’s automaker partners
• 4Geely first sports sedan model expected to go on sale in third quarter
• 5Geely alternative fuel vehicle, pan-Eurasian parts base located in 

Huatai Securities becomes 22.86% shareholder of Chery Holding

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Huatai Asset Management became the new shareholder of Chery Holding. Meanwhile, the registered capital of Chery Holding has increased to 4.2784 billion from 3.3 billion, according to local media.
Founded on October 16, 2014, Huatai Asset Management was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huatai Securities, a leading integrated securities group in China. It had acquired a 22.86% stake in Chery Holding on March 13 with an investment of around RMB 978 million, becoming the third-biggest shareholder of Chery Auto's parent company.
Apart from Huatai Asset Management, Chery Holding still has another two shareholders, Wuhu Construction Investment Co., and Wuhu Ruichuang Investment Co. After the new shareholder joining, Wuhu Construction Investment and Wuhu Ruichuang Investment’s equity proportion in Chery Holding decreased to 40.1% and 37.02% respectively from 52% to 48%.
It is noteworthy that the major shareholder of Wuhu Ruichuang Investment is Chery Auto's chairman Yin Tongyue, who possesses 87.52% stake in the investment company. Besides, Wuhu Construction Investment, who has the largest shares in Chery Holding, is a wholly-owned subordinate company of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of Wuhu. Thus, the actual controller of Chery Holding is still Wuhu SASAC.
Senior executives from Huatai Securities refused to take interview and make any comment on the purpose of the company’s investment in Chery Holding.
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• 4CATL approved IPO by China Security Regulatory Commission
• 5GWM targets over 51% shares in JV with BMW Group

Tencent WeChat to develop voice-driven version for vehicle use

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese Internet giant Tencent is developing a voice-driven version of its prevalent social application WeChat for vehicle use, Ma Huateng, Tencent's CEO, revealed at the Tencent Cloud Summit in Guangzhou on May 23. The application can serve for millions of drivers on roads as long as the technology is mature enough.
The pure voice interacted version without screen could keep drivers eyes on roads instead of being distracted by the smartphone screen, not even for one second. “If we can do it, the version will be officially provided in IoV (Internet of Vehicles) solutions and works in a very intelligent way”, Ma Huateng said.
He added that Tencent has not launched the in-vehicle WeChat version for safety concerns. “If our users check their WeChat Moments and reply messages when they are driving, there is potential life risky for others.”
Some vehicles are equipped with WeChat in infotainment system, while this is just web-version WeChat transplanted from the computer and has not been authorized by Tencent.
Tencent has currently expanding its layouts in automobile industry. In November last year, the Internet company launched an ICV solution dubbed “AI in Car” and announced the cooperation with GAC Group, Chongqing Changan, Geely Auto, BYD and Dongfeng Liuzhou. Last month, the “AI in Car” greeted FAW Group as its sixth partner. According to official introduction, the solution aims to serve for the auto industry based on Tencent's advantages in security, contents, social services, big data and AI, etc.
In autonomous driving area, Tencent obtained its first license on May 14 to conduct road tests for autonomous vehicles in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. In addition, Earlier in April, Tencent's autonomous vehicle made its first public presence on the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing.
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Install Gasgoo APPAnytime and anywhere to know the dynamics of China's auto industry

• 1BMW-Great Wall Motor JV said to be located in Changzhou
• 2China to reduce auto import tariffs from July 1, 2018
• 3First NIO battery swapping station prepares for service in Shenzhen
• 4CATL approved IPO by China Security Regulatory Commission
• 5GWM targets over 51% shares in JV with BMW Group