What Happened? On May 13, a self-driving taxi from Pony.ai was driving in Beijing when it suddenly went off the road and into a street median. Then, the car caught on fire 🔥 Luckily, no one was inside the car, and no one got hurt. The company said the car noticed something wrong and tried…
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A Tragedy. A Test. A Turning Point.
On March 29, a fatal crash involving Xiaomi’s SU7 sedan claimed three lives. Recently, Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, finally broke his silence. “We’ve been hit by a storm of doubts, criticism and blame,” he admitted in a leaked internal video. He pledged to make Xiaomi’s cars the safest in their class. As an automotive…
Ford Just Pulled the Plug on Its $10 Billion Software Dream
This is wild❗️ This was no side project. FNV4 was supposed to be Ford’s answer to Tesla– A bold, all-in bet on building a unified software brain for future vehicles.– Over-the-air updates, driver-assist subscriptions, digital feature monetization– It was the foundation of a “software-defined” future. Now? Dead. After pouring more than $10 billion into the…
Grateful to be quoted in the latest The Wire China article
We are grateful to be quoted in the latest The Wire China article “China’s Self-driving Danger”, which dives into the challenges and risks surrounding the rapid rollout of autonomous vehicles in China. As the author of The Xiaomi Formula, I’ve been closely following the intersection of technology, innovation, and automotive disruption in China. The story…
Big Move in EV Safety: China Releases New Mandatory Battery Safety Standard (GB38031-2025)
The future of EV safety just got a major upgrade in China The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has officially released a new version of the mandatory national standard – GB38031-2025: Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles – set to take effect on July 1, 2026. Here’s what stands out: 1….
Can Porsche Bounce Back In China?
Porsche’s China Sales Plunge 42% as Local EV Rivals Surge. Porsche’s vehicle deliveries in China fell sharply in the first quarter of 2025, down 42% year-over-year. The German automaker sold just 9,471 vehicles between January and March, compared to 16,340 units during the same period last year. The company attributed the decline to “the continuing…
Why Are Chinese Automakers So Obsessed with Speed Bumps?
Lately, we’ve seen a wave of Chinese automakers – BYD and Nio showcasing their luxury cars effortlessly gliding over speed bumps. These viral videos make their way across social media, impressing audiences with next-level ride comfort. But here’s the real question: Is this technology truly new? Not exactly. Bose developed an active suspension system decades…
XPeng CEO Xiaopeng He: AI, Robotics, and the Future of Mobility
On March 8, during the second “Representative Channel” group interview at the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress, Xiaopeng He, Chairman and CEO of XPeng Motors, shared his perspective on how technological innovation is reshaping lives. “I have witnessed and participated in China’s technological evolution over the past 30 years, spanning the rise…
Geely follows BYD in making AI-powered pilot system available across all brands
On March 3, Geely officially launched its unified intelligent driving solution, G-Pilot (“Qianli Haohan” in Chinese), which comes standard with Highway Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) and Automatic Parking Assist (APA). The system is set to undergo large-scale deployment of Door-to-Door (D2D) Navigation Assist functions starting in March 2025. AI Empowerment: The Debut of G-Pilot In…
China’s Automakers Are Offering Free Autonomous Driving
What Does This Mean for the Industry? In a bold move, Chinese automakers are beginning to offer autonomous driving software for free, diverging from Tesla’s paid Full Self Driving (FSD) model. This shift could have profound implications for the industry, consumer adoption, and the global autonomous driving race. 1. Faster Adoption of Autonomous Driving By…