Produced by | Bullet Finance

Designed by | Qianqian

Reviewed by | Songwen

In Shanghai, where the sun first rises above the horizon, this intelligent driving solution provider, also named Horizon Robotics, brought its annual product conference.

Without dazzling stage lights or redundant setup, founder Yu Kai held the entire conference alone, talking for more than two hours. From entrepreneurial stories to industry development, and then to technical reflections, the story of Horizon Robotics' ten-year development may be long but sufficiently exciting.

In this era of "excessive competition," shouting slogans and flexing muscles have become the norm for corporate conferences. Even startups rarely talk about their entrepreneurial history filled with detours. However, at Horizon Robotics' conference, Yu Kai spent more than half of his time talking about his entrepreneurial original intention , Horizon Robotics' values, and future visions.

In ten years, even a company of Horizon Robotics' size has taken many detours in the market. As Yu Kai said, "It wasn't until 2019 that I understood the first principle of business design."

Perhaps setbacks are a normal part of life, but Horizon Robotics and Yu Kai's style carry a hint of open-mindedness and optimism.

Whether it's chips or software algorithms, the industry and field that Yu Kai has delved into are at the top of the scientific pyramid, with a strong scientist vibe.

But history has proven time and again that intelligent minds are often erudite—science is about factual calculation and deduction, while art is a reflection of inner fulfillment and imagination.

Undoubtedly, scientist Yu Kai is more like an artist with a strong core. Yu Kai gave himself the nickname "Yu Kai_Horizon Robotics Peasant" on social media platforms. Even when working late at night, he would motivate himself—all those who don't believe in us or set higher expectations are actually here to help us.

(Image / Horizon Robotics Founder & CEO Yu Kai's Weibo)

From any perspective, Horizon Robotics is a company that can endure loneliness.

Horizon Robotics is becoming increasingly stable. Today, it is no longer just the chip provider that was "crossing the river by feeling the stones" in the beginning but a leading provider of intelligent driving solutions integrating software and hardware.

Data shows that in 2024, Horizon Robotics cumulatively delivered about 2.9 million solutions, with a year-on-year growth rate of 38%, and a cumulative delivery of about 7.7 million intelligent driving solutions, ranking first in China.

According to Horizon Robotics' data, by the end of 2024, its share of the domestic market for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) had exceeded 40%.

At this moment, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, Horizon Robotics officially released its urban autonomous driving system Horizon SuperDrive (HSD), heralding a new period of value release for the company.

Enduring loneliness is true heroism.

The clock goes back ten years.

Yu Kai, who had just resigned from his previous company, returned to his entrepreneurial identity. In 2015, Horizon Robotics was the only company in the industry engaged in intelligent chip development, and it wasn't until the next year that more entrepreneurs joined.

At that time, the entrepreneurial ranks were bustling with artificial intelligence and new energy vehicle manufacturing, and resources and money in the industry tended towards quick profits. However, Horizon Robotics chose a less traveled path. The automotive-grade chip sector that Horizon Robotics entered received little attention and did not stir up much commotion in the industry in the early stages.

"Is this direction, which no one sees, pays attention to, or values, a potential major industry opportunity?" This seems like a rhetorical question but is actually Yu Kai's firm judgment on the market.

"China does not lack a company that makes money; Horizon Robotics aims to be a company that drives progress in human scientific and technological civilization." This is the original intention of Horizon Robotics in Yu Kai's words and also the code of conduct for Horizon Robotics in today's era.

At that time, he was doing what all entrepreneurs were doing—showing the outside world and investors what kind of company he wanted to build.

This is a judgment that determines the future development and direction of the company. In Yu Kai's view, strategy stems from one's understanding of the world and the market. "I believe that an enterprise must not follow the crowd; it must think about what are valuable counter-consensus views. Because you must find your uniqueness; otherwise, you will fall into homogeneous competition."

In the early stages of Horizon Robotics' involvement in the intelligent driving sector, the commercial prospects of this industry were not clear, and the timing of commercialization was repeatedly pushed back on the company's timeline. No one dared to make a judgment on the final outcome of this sector.

At that time, Yu Kai had already realized that the advancement of intelligent driving might be a gradual and lengthy process, but every link inevitably requires a processor.

It was also at this time that Yu Kai, who had never even touched a chip before, realized that pure software algorithms do not constitute a business model. Most companies are essentially unwilling to pay for software and algorithms. Moreover, doing only software algorithms does not form a wide enough moat.

After calm reflection, Yu Kai began to walk alone on this less popular path—neither chasing hot topics nor wanting to be a star. The biggest benefit of this is that it allows one to maintain a clear self-awareness in an era of constant change and iteration.

Very early on, based on hardware solutions such as intelligent chips and core computing platforms, Horizon Robotics deeply coupled them with its intelligent software platform, injecting its understanding of deep learning and software algorithms into the creation of hardware architectures and building intelligent driving solutions around core processor applications.

Yu Kai mentioned that in ten years, Horizon Robotics has accumulated two strategic methodologies. The first is to compete where there is no competition, preferring to be an outward-expanding enterprise that broadens technological and industrial boundaries. If it really has to enter a competitive battlefield, it must win with 10 against 1.

The second is never to dance on the edge of a cliff, spending more energy thinking about where the dead end is and reducing all "visible risks" that can be reduced. If one really has to jump, there must be a safe distance from the cliff.

In Yu Kai's thinking, considering safety and verification cycles, it takes at least five years for a chip to go from design to actually serving a product. This time can hardly be shortened and is equal for all enterprises in the industry chain, even if you are a large company.

This is the sufficiently wide moat in Yu Kai's words. Including the later first principle of business and the technological belief in the integration of software and hardware, they are actually based on this repeatedly applied methodology.

Yu Kai admitted that in the past ten years, adhering to the route of integration of software and hardware was one of the few things Horizon Robotics did right. "Horizon Robotics has never been a pure chip company but a 'chip + software' system-level intelligent driving technology company."

The founder of an enterprise with a scientific background always carries a charm of rational thinking.

This personality trait of being able to detach oneself from complex things makes Yu Kai one of the few figures in the industry willing to stand on the "edge of the spotlight."

"One must become a star, which is to bring suffering upon oneself."—Neither Horizon Robotics nor Yu Kai seem to want to be the center of the stage.

Yu Kai believes that the label of a star company actually does not have much meaning or value for Horizon Robotics. What matters more is whether the products are actually advancing the development of the industry.

Almost all the time, Yu Kai and Horizon Robotics stand on the edge of the spotlight. "This allows us to do our own things more calmly, and being on the edge of the spotlight also means that people won't ignore us."

Indeed, as a supplier in the industry chain, no matter how dazzling, one stands behind the OEM. Obviously, Yu Kai is acutely aware that helping automakers create better products and more market-favored models is far more important than becoming a star company.

"Achieving customer success is the best path to self-achievement. Altruism and self-interest are not contradictory; only altruism is truly self-interest." Yu Kai believes that in many business collaborations, there are many choices, but these choices are all visible things. Many times, the choice is not to take but to give up.

In the division of labor within the entire industry chain, each enterprise needs to do what it is good at.

This attitude has also attracted more partners for Horizon Robotics.

At the conference, Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery Holding Group, specially attended and announced a cooperation with Horizon Robotics for the global first mass production of HSD. Chery will build the Falcon intelligent driving solution based on an open and innovative joint ecosystem. Horizon Robotics' HSD and Journey 6P will be equipped on the EXEED brand and will be officially mass-produced in September 2025.

Yin Tongyue also said that Horizon Robotics is one of Chery's most important partners in the field of intelligence, and HSD is a first-class urban autonomous driving solution in the industry. Both Chery and Horizon Robotics hope to pursue excellence in technology, safety, and quality, making Chinese intelligence a synonym for global trust.

Prior to this, Horizon Robotics and the Volkswagen Group also announced a cooperation in the high-level field based on Horizon Robotics' HSD intelligent assisted driving solution. This cooperation will see HSD serve as an important support for intelligent driving research and development under the "In China, For China" strategy, accelerated through the cooperation between Volkswagen subsidiary CARIAD and Horizon Robotics' joint venture Cooltek, and implemented on Volkswagen models.

An open ecosystem and a mutually beneficial attitude have allowed Horizon Robotics to extensively cooperate with Tier 1 and OEM partners, accelerating the popularization of intelligent driving applications.

Data shows that in terms of model designations, Horizon Robotics is delivering or has delivered intelligent driving solutions to over 310 models, with shipments of over 8 million for its intelligent driving solutions. With a market share of 33.97%, it ranks first in L2 autonomous driving solutions for self-owned brand passenger vehicles.

In the past month, intelligent driving in China also seems to have entered the "coming of age" stage. Behind many accidents involving safety thresholds lie adjustments and changes in the industrial ecology, industrial norms, and regulation.

On April 16, an industry closed-door meeting led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology attracted much attention from both inside and outside the industry. The Equipment Industry Department I of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will issue new regulatory rules for the market access and OTA upgrade management of intelligent and connected vehicles.

Behind the upgraded regulation, there will inevitably be synchronous iterations upstream and downstream in the industry chain, and Horizon Robotics is no exception.

While OEMs are more or less anxious, Yu Kai said that the tightening of policies will bring the entire industry back to a normal track.

He used this analogy to prove the importance of regulation. "Why do trains run faster than cars? It's because there are tracks. So a more rational industry under regulations will not slow down the development speed of intelligent driving technology. I think it will actually develop faster."

With regulated "tracks," the development of the industry also becomes law-abiding.

In Yu Kai's view, the period from 2025 to 2035 is a turning point of tenfold change for intelligent driving. Technological development may present a very steep technological curve, rapidly pushing up popularization. By 2035 at the latest, L5 autonomous driving technology will definitely be popularized in every vehicle.

"In the 3G era of mobile phones, only high-end models used 3G, and most entry-level phones were still 2G or GSM. By the 4G stage, when video communication and video streams were smooth enough, it was found that even entry-level models were 4G, and there was no option for 2G or GSM. So I believe that by 2027 or 2028, technologies like Journey 6P+HSD will be very mature for daily commuting scenarios in urban areas. This will quickly become a standard configuration, but it's not a linear change. It will rise rapidly after reaching a technological inflection point. And this inflection point will probably appear around 2027 or 2026."

Yu Kai predicts that Horizon Robotics expects to turn around its loss status in 2027 or 2028 because the company still needs to maintain research and development investment to maintain its current market position.

According to previous estimates, Horizon Robotics will grow faster in the next few years than in previous years because the price of Journey 5 is only around $100, while Journey 6P can now sell for several hundred dollars. Therefore, with the ASP (Average Selling Price) per vehicle doubling, the market share will continue to expand this year compared to last year. At least in this field, Horizon Robotics is currently the champion in China, and we only focus on ourselves.

In the past ten years, the most important thing Horizon Robotics has done is to create an isolation zone through intense research and development, rapidly widening the gap with the second place in the market.

Therefore, Yu Kai believes that Horizon Robotics' business has reached the finals of the World Cup, competing for the championship. We will definitely maintain high-intensity research and development investment, and Horizon Robotics can afford it—last year's adjusted P&L loss was about 1.5 billion yuan, and the loss is continuously narrowing because revenue growth is fast and high gross margins are maintained, so the overall financial management is actually very healthy.

"Above the bottom line of healthy financial management, we maintain research and development investment, which also allows us to widen the gap with our competitors or a group of pursuers behind us."

Leading a team for ten years of entrepreneurship, from a small workshop to managing a team of over a thousand people, Yu Kai has always felt that the hardest thing to manage is himself—to keep his mind clear, know how to make choices, and adopt what strategy and business philosophy.

Behind the rapid growth of the enterprise, Yu Kai, as the helmsman, has always maintained a clear and calm demeanor and restrained his vain desires. Moreover, this trait has more or less coincided with Horizon Robotics' philosophy.

The biggest enemy is oneself. Whether it is Kai Yu or Horizon Robotics, they are always thinking. As Kai Yu said, for Horizon Robotics, the core of our thinking is not how to win, but how not to fail, how not to lose.

*The lead image in the article is from: Horizon Robotics official website; the uncredited images in the article are from: Horizon Robotics official WeChat account.