Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun: Over 140 Autonomous Driving Test Cars to Be Launched Soon

August 11 is the 12th anniversary of Xiaomi. To mark the occasion, Lei Jun, Chairman, CEO and founder of Xiaomi, presented his 2022 annual speech, recalling his personal entrepreneurial process and introducing new products including a new generation of foldable smartphones, wireless headphones, a washing machine product and a humanoid robot.

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Near the end of the speech, Lei announced the new progress of Xiaomi‘s vehicle manufacturing business. The executive said the business had gone on for more than 500 days and the company has completed a lot of confidential work, but there is always “much gossip.” For this reason, Lei Jun decided that “we will not refute related rumors or introduce new progress in the next two years,” but “will report regularly at an appropriate time.”

Lei said that Xiaomi‘s autonomous driving technology adopts the technical layout strategy of full-stack self-developed algorithms, covering the core technical fields such as perception prediction, high-precision positioning, and decision-making planning. It also builds a self-developed data closed-loop system to efficiently drive upgrade of core algorithm and product functions, which has made a lot of progress so far.

Xiaomi also released a video showing automated driving functions. A Xiaomi automated driving test vehicle has realized U-turns on an open road, automatic detour of accidents, recognition of pedestrians at crossings and roundabouts, automatic descent of continuous ramps, automated parking and charging.

Lei said that automated driving is the key point for smart electric vehicles to stand out in the industry, which is also the first breakthrough direction of Xiaomi‘s auto business. In the first phase, the company plans to invest 3.3 billion yuan ($489.8 million). At present, an exclusive auto team consisting of 500 staff members has been established, which does not include collaborative teams such as an artificial intelligence laboratory team, Xiaomi AI assistant team and smartphone & camera department. Its goal is to become a leading player in the industry by 2024.

Next, Xiaomi will launch more than 140 automated driving test vehicles in the first phase, carrying out R&D verification work across China.

It is worth mentioning that XPeng Motors, which has received investment from Lei Jun himself, has the most bet on autonomous driving functions among the three top new energy vehicle companies in China, which also include NIO and Li Auto.

At the end of his speech, Lei Jun also announced the brand-new concept of “Xiaomi Technology Ecology.” Starting from smartphones to wearable devices and smart home products, including intelligent manufacturing, smart electric vehicles and bionic robots, Xiaomi is building an expanding technology for all scenarios and providing rich intelligent equipment and services.