The 2025 China EV100 Forum brought together the brightest minds in the automotive industry, showcasing groundbreaking innovations, fierce competition, and an unexpected wave of collaboration. Here are some key takeaways from China’s top auto leaders:

⚡ The Big Highlights

Xiaomi - Lei Jun’s Debut: Xiaomi’s CEO made his first appearance (at the Forum), blending humility with a "soft-spoken but killer performance"—boasting record SU7 pre-orders and dominating track records at Nürburgring. His message? "The EV race’s first half was electrification; the second half is智能化 (smart tech)."

Horizon Robotics - "Autopilot for All": Horizon Robotics’ Yu Kai teased the 560 TOPS Journey 6P chip, set for Q3 2025, calling his company the "greatest common divisor" in autonomous driving. His bold prediction? "100% hands-free in 3 years, eyes-off in 5, and ‘sleep while driving’ in 10."🙊

NIO, XPeng & Li Auto's Diverging Visions:

NIO - William Li unveiled the ET9—17 world-first techs, 5nm self-driving chips, and ¥60B R&D spend since founding.

XPeng - He Xiaopeng bet big on flying cars, planning 200 flight bases by EOY and a $2T market by 2045.

Li Auto - Li Xiang open-sourced Li OS, slashing chip adaptation time and boosting safety—"Why reinvent the wheel?"

🔋Traditional Titans Strike Back

BYD - Wang Chuanfu declared, "smart EV transformation will finish in 2-3 years", backed by BYD’s 50%+ domestic EV market share and global expansion.

Geely - Gan Jiayue shared "AI for all", leveraging China’s top 2nd supercomputing power (after Tesla) to achieve 135 km/h AEB braking.

Chery - Yin Tongyue cracked jokes ("Speaking after Wang Chuanfu is scarier than the market!") but stayed serious about globalization—"We need policies to help Chinese EVs go from exporters to global players."

🤝 The Unifying Theme: Collaboration

From NIO sharing its chips to Li Auto open-sourcing its OS, the forum echoed one mantra: "No one wins the smart EV race alone." Even rivals acknowledged shared challenges—"We compete, but we’re in this together."

Whether it’s flying cars, open-source ecosystems, or AI-powered safety, like it or not, the future might arrive faster than we think.

#AutonomousDriving #EV #AI #Robotics #Chips #Ecosystem #Competition #Collaboration #Globalisation

(Image: 2025 China EV100 Forum)