Why did BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu recently meet up with Yu Kai, founder, chairman and CEO of Horizon Robotics. There must be something ‘cooking’ in the self driving space for sure.
Well, the two executives jointly experienced a BYD Seal equipped with intelligent driving capabilities. Their direct involvement signals a deepening collaboration in the field of intelligent driving.
On June 26, Horizon Robotics released data showing that in April, its domain controller chips for passenger vehicle ADAS systems achieved over 80,000 installations in China, capturing a 13.6% market share and ranking second.
Meanwhile, it was NVIDIA that led the market with over 300,000 units installed and a 50.9% share. In response, Yu Kai remarked that “this ranking won’t be the same next year,” implying a significant increase in Horizon’s chip shipments ahead.
Yu Kai also disclosed on social media that the company is currently focused on customer service, stating, “We’ve just closed an exceptionally large deal,” and previewed the upcoming HSD 2.0 version, calling it one of China’s best current solutions for intelligent driving assistance.
Previously, during the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, Wang Chuanfu personally visited Horizon’s booth and spent more than two hours experiencing its “Kaka Xia” cockpit system. Following this, BYD’s executive team made multiple return visits.
Although BYD unveiled its self-developed 4nm intelligent driving chip, “Xuanji A3,” on May 28, 2026 with single-chip computing power exceeding 700 TOPS, Horizon’s stock price dropped by over 7% the next day.
Nevertheless, Horizon remains the primary supplier for BYD’s “Tiānshén Zhī Yǎn C” (Celestial Eye C) solution, with an estimated shipment of approximately 2.5 million Journey 6 chips to BYD in 2025. Given BYD’s need to cover vehicle models across a broad price range which is from RMB 70,000 to over RMB 1 million, its in-house chips primarily target high-end models, while high-volume models continue to rely on cost-effective third-party solutions.
Horizon’s newly launched “Stellar” cabin-and-driving integrated chip can reduce hardware costs per vehicle by RMB 1,500 to RMB 4,000, aligning well with BYD’s “democratization of intelligent driving” strategy.
Consequently, Horizon’s HSD V2.0 full-scenario urban intelligent driving solution is expected to debut on BYD vehicles, and the two companies’ intelligent vehicle operating systems and this will be BYD’s “Didi Xia” and Horizon’s “Kaka Xia” which may achieve deep integration or joint development.
