C Talk | Yu Kai from Horizon Robotics: Concentrate on the China market and create value for end consumers

In October 2022, Horizon Robotics announced its partnership with Volkswagen Group’s software company CARIAD to establish a joint venture to develop automated driving solutions for the Chinese market. As Volkswagen Group's largest investment in China in recent years, the collaboration has attracted wide attention.

As a leading provider of energy-efficient computing solutions for consumer vehicles, the company has signed cooperation with 20+ automotive companies on mass production projects for more than 70 car models. The shipments of its Journey series computing solutions have exceeded 2.8 million.

“China market is like a playground for all the best players. And we are creating value for the consumers in the China market, which is very meaningful but not easy. We need to concentrate 100% of our efforts, our bandwidth,” Dr. Yu Kai, Founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, said to Gasgoo in an interview.

In the past several years, China, the largest automotive market in the world, has taken the leading position in innovative vehicle technologies in such fields as advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), electrification and smart cabin. Consumers here also exhibit strong curiosity and great acceptance of the new driving and riding experiences.

According to Gasgoo Auto Research Institute, thanks to consumers’ growing interest in driving assistance functions and increasing willingness to pay for those features, China’s smart vehicle market is expected to see rapid growth with the penetration rate of L2 and higher-level ADAS functions to surge to 63% by 2025. Horizon Robotics will concentrate all its efforts to take the advantage of the great potential in China’s market.

When it comes to company mission, Dr. Yu Kai stressed on creating value for Chinese consumers. When asked to choose three words to describe his company, Dr. Yu talked about “consumers” first. Even though consumers are not the company’s direct customers, consumer-centric becomes its value as the company’s mission is to make human life safer and better.

Dr. Yu believes that the goal of technology is to empower people and make people great, not to increase the power of machines. “And I think no matter how powerful, how smart the car is gonna be, the driver or the consumer eventually will still be the master,” Dr. Yu added.

Consequently, Horizon offers products that will make vehicles safe, reliable and bring people great fun. Out of the philosophy that safety is the top priority, their first generation of products, the Journey 2 and Journey 3 computing solutions, are really focused on safety, bringing different functions to vehicles, such as ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) and AEB (Autonomous Emergency Braking). Currently, the products have been equipped by millions of cars in China every year.

Its second generation of product, the Journey 5 computing solution, offers more advanced driving assistance, like lane changing and overtaking on the highways. Launched in 2021, the solution is energy efficient and cost effective. According to Dr. Yu, this solution has been equipped by some best-selling cars in China, including the newest L series vehicles from Li Auto, a leader in China’s new energy vehicle market.

As vehicles are becoming increasingly smart, Horizon thinks it is urgent to build energy-efficient computing solutions. By integrating and optimizing software and hardware, Horizon can help to reduce power consumption and make the auto industry and the world greener.

Apart from competitive products, Horizon Robotics also adopts the strategy of open and win-win collaboration in the fast-changing automotive market. The company has established partnerships with numerous software and hardware suppliers, automakers, global ones as well as domestic ones.

“We work together and often communicate together to discuss about the direction to go, as an industry community, as a whole. And we often think about how to help our customers, our partners, to win,” Dr. Yu said.

Just as the company’s slogan “Journey Together” says, Horizon Robotics hopes to realize its own vision that is to let machines do machines’ work and humans enjoy their life. “It’s a long journey. But the journey is not like a single person, single company, but win together with all the ecosystem partners,” Dr Yu summarized.

As cars are becoming “the third living space” beyond home and office, the company is devoted to releasing people’s driving fatigue and bringing a safer, more convenient and comfortable experience for Chinese consumers.

The following is the transcript of the interview.

Gasgoo: Why did you establish Horizon Robotics? And what's the mission of your company?

Yu Kai: Yeah, that's a long story. Since my college times, I was passionate about machine learning and since then, I have been in love with machine learning for already over 27 years.

Gasgoo: 27 years.

Yu Kai: So I’m passionate about developing computer programs to enable machines to learn, to think, to act like human. I think it is amazing.

And I devote my entire career into this lifelong mission and pursuit. Later when I was in Baidu, I launched Baidu autonomous driving project and combined machine learning together with automotive industry.

I feel probably there is some inspiration also from my family. Actually my father, he's an ingenious automotive engineer.

Gasgoo: Wow.

Yu Kai: Yeah. He's dealing with cars for his entire career. When I was a kid, I heard many good things about him from other people and how amazing he's making cars and dealing with cars. To some extent, there is probably also some heritage from my grandpa. He was doing this tire business.

Gasgoo: Tire business.

Yu Kai: Also deal with automotive industry.  

Gasgoo: Yeah.

Yu Kai: It's like some line, family line. Even though in college and also in my PHD time, I was doing computer science, but eventually I joined automotive industry.

Gasgoo: Welcome.

Yu Kai: I think this is not only out of my curiosity, but also it comes out of a sense of mission, which is the technology’s meaning and for what.

If you imagine the daily commute in Beijing, traffic jam is happening every day. You have to be very intense and really focus on steering the car. You don't enjoy that. Right? It's quite like a competition every day and sometimes not safe enough.

Can we develop technologies to really make human life safer and better, specifically for our daily commute or transportation to be much safer, much comfortable, and also very convenient? I think this is a huge value than technology can be made for humanity. This is also the mission of our company. We have been attracting a group of talents who really embrace this mission.

Gasgoo: If you use three key words to describe Horizon Robotics, what would you pick?

Yu Kai: That's a very good question. I just mentioned the meaning. All the technologies must come from a mission. I think the mission is really about value. Fundamentally in our heart is really creating the value for humans, like consumer first, consumer centric. It’s really the first term to describe our company.

Gasgoo: Okay.

Yu Kai: No matter how powerful, how smart the car is gonna be, I think the driver or the consumer will still be the master of the cars, of all the machines. To me, building machines which can really help consumers, make them feel much safer, and bring great fun for driving, is our mission. That's why we develop ADAS products, namely advanced driver assistance systems.

The primary goal is safety. And safety is the foundation for everything else. And all the beauty of life, all the kind of joy, along with the driving must come from the foundation which is safety.

I think consumer first is our value. Actually consumers are not our direct customers. Our direct customers are OEMs.

Gasgoo: Yes.

Yu Kai: Consumers are end customers. But we think for us to conduct a successful business, we need to help our direct customers to win. How come they can win? They must build amazing products, amazing cars for consumers. In that sense, we share the kind of like empathy. Even though we are doing business with OEMs, we share the same mission. We share the same challenges, sometimes same struggles together.

Gasgoo: So consumer centered is one key word.

Yu Kai: Yes, consumer centric. The second term to describe our company, I will call energy-efficient computing.

Can you imagine the human society are increasingly becoming so digitalized? And that means if you think about in 10 years, what's the biggest energy consumption? It actually comes from computing. The cars are becoming something like computers running on wheels.

Gasgoo: Exactly.

Yu Kai: Yes. Billions of cars are consuming huge amount of energy. I think we have the mission to build energy-efficient computing solutions and make the world much greener. What we fundamentally are pushing towards, more green energy consumption for automotive industry, by combining software and hardware together and jointly optimizing them.

Gasgoo: So the energy efficiency will be the second word you pick.

Yu Kai: Right. The third one would be definitely open collaboration and win-win. No single company can do everything. That means you need to be open and also focus on what we are really good at, and collaborate with many ecosystem partners.

And today Horizon Robotics is collaborating with, I think, all kinds of software vendors and hardware component vendors, sensor makers, like cameras, lidars, radars, and also with local and global OEMs, car makers.

We work together and often communicate together to discuss about the direction to go, as an industry community, as a whole. And we often think how to help our customers, our partners, to win.

If there're many players who are connected to our business, and because of the connection to Horizon Robotics, they win bigger.

Gasgoo: Empower your customers be more successful.

Yu Kai: Exactly. That will help us build very strong business position.

Gasgoo: Good point. So now you very focus on the China market.

Yu Kai: Yes. The China market is massive. But even more amazing is the smart EV business. Last year I think we shipped close to 7 million NEVs, which accounted for about 60% of the global amount. The penetration rate of smart EVs is rapidly growing every year, year by year.

And China, I think, is the most vibrate place, the place which is the first in the world to adopt new technologies. And the consumers in this market, are so open minded, to try and to embrace new technologies. This market is so open. You don't see any other market like here. And over 100 different brands.

Gasgoo: Yes, more than 100 different brands.

Yu Kai: Interplay here. So this is already a global market. Now Horizon Robotics really focuses on China market. I think it's actually not easy to do, because this is like a playground for all the best players, all over the world.

And we are creating value for the consumers in China market, which is very meaningful, but not easy. We need to concentrate 100% of our efforts, our bandwidth on the China market.

But that also means we would love to work with international players on the China market and also help them to innovate and to win in the China market.

Gasgoo: That's very clear. As we all know, the automotive industry now is undergoing the dramatic transformation into smart EV era.

Yu Kai: Yes.

Gasgoo: Does that bring a lot of opportunities to Horizon Robotics? What's your point of view about the market development?

Yu Kai: Yes. I think the great opportunity ongoing is that the cars are becoming like computers.

Gasgoo: Like computers.

Yu Kai: Essentially, what we are doing is to develop the solution to help OEMs to build computers running on wheels and empower consumers to enjoy amazing digital experience.

This is a great opportunity for us to design software and hardware and also to build the ecosystem. And I foresee in coming years, let's say in 10 years, cars will become something like a digital space.

Gasgoo: Digital space.

Yu Kai: Right. And I sometimes even call it the third space of human, other than office and home. You will spend more time with your car, in your car and also make a lot of fun. For me, I spend quite some time having video conferences.

Gasgoo: Working space.

Yu Kai: Yes, because I travel a lot and also visit a lot of my customers.

Gasgoo: It’s a mobile office, right?

Yu Kai: Exactly. Moving and mobile office. I think that kind of life is happening. That will create huge opportunities, not only for Horizon Robotics, but for many industry participants. Today, I think cars are equipped with an amazingly big number of sensors, like camera makers, radar, lidar sensor makers, ultrasonic sensor makers. They're gonna have a huge potential.

And even for the software vendors. Because cars are becoming more and more software driven, software defined vehicles. A lot of internet companies, software service providers will all find opportunities along with this mega trend. So that means a huge opportunity for many players.

Gasgoo: Because the vehicle becomes a totally new living space.

Yu Kai: Yes, the definition of cars is becoming so different. I think the cars has been invented for over 137 years. Today, we are sitting in this amazing car museum. But I think in more than 100 years, actually, the formality of cars had fundamentally no changes until now. Now the technology, the software defined computer platform and digital experience, a lot of magic things will happen. It will be beyond our imagination.

Gasgoo: From your point of view, how will the smart vehicles change people's life?

Yu Kai: I think definitely every ordinary people will be empowered to have more freedom. I would say currently without ADAS, without this kind of digitalization, essentially the driver is really kind of controlled by cars. Not the other way around.

Think about the commute in Shanghai. If it's 1-hour commute, I think you need to 100% focus on steering the car. You are not able to do anything else. This is so much against human nature. I think as a human, by nature, we are multitasking.

Gasgoo: Yes. We need to do something wherever we are.

Yu Kai: And doing multiple things. For 1 hour of driving, you are not allowed to check what your friends are telling you through Wechat. What a pity!

I think the technology is really creating a great value. It's not to empower a machine, to make a machine greater, but really make a human greater. This is fundamentally what drives us and what makes us and also all the team members of our company so excited every day. Sometimes I make this analogy, which is like a horse riding.

Gasgoo: Horse riding.

Yu Kai: Yes. I think a horse, of course, is very capable of self-driving.

Gasgoo: Yeah.

Yu Kai: They're super smart, but it’s still under control by riders. And who is the master? Human, the rider. I think the future car would be something like that. It will be your life companion. Be your friend, but really serve you and be under your control, even they are super smart. They even understand you.

Gasgoo: So that's the core value of the technology development.

Yu Kai: Yes, to empower users, empower human and make life better.

Gasgoo: Can you introduce the application of Horizon’s products? And what kind of driving experience your products can bring to the consumers?

Yu Kai: Our first generation of products are our Journey 2 and Journey 3 computing solutions, which are really focused on the safety.

Gasgoo: Safety.

Yu Kai: Yes. They basically empower cars with the functionalities, like ACC, adaptive cruise control, or AEB, which is automatic emergency braking. Some emergency happened to the cars and maybe by chance the driver is distracted by something else or in a kind of like a fatigue and could not really respond in time. The cars will automatically slow down or even stop to avoid tragedies or accidents happening.

I think this is the first generation of our products. It's already been, I think, equipped by already millions of cars each year in the China market. I believe the products really making our daily commute much safer. Safety is our priority always.

Gasgoo: Top priority.

Yu Kai: Our top priority. Our second generation of our products is really the Journey 5 computing solution, which is really to empower the cars to be a more kind of automatic, like lane changing on the highway.

I think when you drive on the highway. You don't need to like 100% focus on driving. You can check Wechat from time to time, occasionally. You will feel it's not like entirely replacing human driver. Definitely not, but it really makes you relaxed. Less intense.

Gasgoo: Less intense.

Yu Kai: And I think to really follow your human nature. Human are not machines, 100% focusing on like dealing with this.

Gasgoo: Yes.

Yu Kai: I had this kind of experience, driving my car equipped with our Journey 5 solution and with all the surrounding sensors and all the computing, for 100 kilometers. And I don't feel any kind of being tired. It was a quite different experience I never had before without this kind of functionalities.

In 2021 we launched the product and it's been already equipped by some of the best-selling cars in China. I believe this year we will continue to work with more OEM brands, to work together with them to deliver more powerful, more welcomed car products in China.

Gasgoo: Last year, Volkswagen Group announced the partnership between its software company CARIAD with Horizon Robotics.

Yu Kai: Yes.

Gasgoo: And you also cooperate with many Chinese car makers.

Yu Kai: Right.

Gasgoo: Why do they choose Horizon Robotics? How to win their trust?

Yu Kai: A very good question. We are very proud of the partnership with Volkswagen Group. I think for many Chinese consumers, Volkswagen is not just a brand. It has been in China for over 20, 30 years, already making a huge impact on our mind, on our memory.

Gasgoo: From childhood.

Yu Kai: Yes. I feel like it's quite like a mission we shared to equip the Volkswagen cars in China, and to make their cars much safer and much more convenient. So we share the mission. That's why we work together. We also combine the strength from each side together, which is so called like German quality.

Gasgoo: German quality.

Yu Kai: And China speed.

Gasgoo: Very fast, very good quality.

Yu Kai: Yes. I think eventually the value is really created for the consumers. So we will work together to co-develop the cutting-edge computers for cars, making the cars smarter and smarter.

But we feel this is our mission to work with all the kind of brands, Chinese brands, domestic brands and also global brands creating value for end users, for all the people, to make their lives safer and much more convenient. I think this is we shared with all the customers, all the OEM car makers. Yes. That's it.

Gasgoo: So what's your plan and expectation for the Horizon Robotics’ future development?

Yu Kai: Good question. I think we really focus on what we are doing right now. We have a slogan which is Journey Together. To accomplish our goal, it's a long way to go. It needs really hard working, 10 years, 20 years for technology development, and also for winning together with our customers.

So it’s a long journey. But the journey is not like a single person, single company, but win together with all the ecosystem partners, to build open collaboration and win-win strategy together with the partners, our customers.

I think eventually we will foresee cars become much more important in our daily life. And you feel so much be empowered. No matter on the road or even parking the car there, you can still do amazing things together with your car.

We also foresee once we can build really powerful computing solutions for cars, and then probably we are also able to build computing solutions for many other things.

Gasgoo: Okay, pretty cool.

Yu Kai: Yeah. Because that's gonna be like Horizon Robotics 2.0.

Gasgoo: 2.0.

Yu Kai: Yes. Let the machine do machines’ work and the human enjoys human life. I think that's eventually what we want.

Gasgoo: Okay. Really thank you for today's time. And I think it's a wonderful talk. Thank you.

Yu Kai: Thank you. I really enjoy that.