With shipments exceeding 15 million units, Horizon Robotics' Yu Kai faces new challenges.

"I was happy for two seconds and then moved on, because the real challenge was yet to come."

On September 15th, Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, spoke about the fact that the cumulative shipments of its Journey chip had exceeded 15 million units. He outlined next year's goal: to strive to become number one in the high-computing-power intelligent driving chip market.

On the same day, Horizon Robotics announced that the 15 millionth Journey chip will be installed in FAW-Volkswagen ID. AURA T6, and HSD V2.1 will also be launched soon, with all-scenario reversing being the focus of this update.

Yu Kai also revealed that the cockpit-driver fusion chip "Starry Sky" will begin mass production in October, with large-scale mass production expected next year. The customer base for HSD will also expand, with models from a leading new energy vehicle manufacturer set to be mass-produced within the year.

These product and customer advancements correspond to Horizon Robotics' market share targets in the high-end market. Data from the Gaogong Intelligent Vehicle Research Institute shows that in the first half of 2026, Horizon Robotics' market share in the domestic brand ADAS chip market exceeded 50% for the first time; in the domestic brand urban NOA chip market, its share reached 22.8%, an increase of approximately 5 percentage points compared to 2025, ranking second.

"If we look at market share in high-performance computing, we're probably second this year, and I hope to be number one next year," said Yu Kai. The company's high-end market target also includes the share from direct chip sales, as well as the extended share generated by supporting customers' self-developed technologies through IP licensing.

From small computing power to medium computing power to large computing power, Yu Kai describes Horizon Robotics' past development as "encircling the cities from the countryside." A cumulative shipment of 15 million chips records the scale of the Journey family of products; now, as they move towards urban assisted driving, the chips need to work with algorithms and vehicle control to complete more complex driving tasks.

The Volkswagen T6, equipped with the 15 millionth chip, is the first to use the Journey 6H platform, supported by the HSD AI base model. Yu Kai revealed that the HSD underwent over 450,000 kilometers of testing before its market launch, and the two parties collaborated on aspects such as version iteration, software approval, and hardware quality testing.

He specifically mentioned the impact of the chassis on the assisted driving experience. Chassis tuning, stability, and response latency all affect the system's effectiveness in executing driving decisions. If the processing is slightly delayed, heavy braking may occur to compensate, resulting in a worse riding experience. This is also the vehicle integration work that needs to be completed when the same chip and algorithm are used in different vehicle models.

According to Horizon Robotics, over 8 million vehicles are currently equipped with Journey chips. Wang Shengli, Deputy General Manager of FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. (Commercial), and Party Secretary and General Manager of FAW-Volkswagen Sales Co., Ltd., stated that the T6 is just the beginning, and the cooperation between the two parties will be fully rolled out in the new energy vehicle sector.

Along with the launch of new models, HSD continues to expand its capabilities to include specific scenarios. In June of this year, Horizon Robotics launched HSD V2.0, focusing on point-to-point traffic and collision avoidance capabilities. The upcoming V2.1 will add a full-scenario reversing function. According to Horizon Robotics, the end-to-end model can directly generate driving trajectories for scenarios such as getting out of trouble and navigating narrow passages.

The number of mass-production customers for HSD will also increase. Yu Kai announced that the solution will be used in the mass production of a leading new energy vehicle manufacturer's model within the year, but the company name and specific model were not disclosed at the event. In response to questions about HSD cooperation, he added that Changan is also a customer of Horizon Robotics. As the solution is adopted by more brands, Horizon Robotics needs to adapt to the different development methods and mass production requirements of various automakers.

The expansion of advanced features is also extending to lower-priced models. Horizon Robotics disclosed that its partner, Intelligent Driving New Journey, is leveraging the Journey 6M chip to enable NOA (Noise, Air, and Origin) functionality in urban areas on gasoline SUVs priced around 100,000 yuan.

Regarding "equal access to intelligent driving," Yu Kai draws an analogy to the widespread adoption of 4G mobile communication: when the technology reaches a sufficiently mature level, it has the opportunity to spread from high-end products to entry-level products. He believes that currently, there are still significant differences in the assisted driving capabilities of vehicles at different price points. In the future, once the technology is sufficiently stable and smooth, intelligent driving is expected to move from being an optional feature to a more widely adopted standard feature.

Yu Kai explained that the Journey 6M processor has a computing power of 128 TOPS. Its approach involves joint optimization of hardware and software to enable a medium-powered computing platform to support urban assisted driving while controlling the overall cost of the solution. He cited the SAIC Volkswagen ID.ERA 5S as an example, which uses a single Journey 6M chip and a camera solution, without LiDAR. He did not disclose specific models for the upcoming 100,000 RMB-level gasoline SUV.

Another cost-reduction path is cockpit-driver integration. Yu Kai stated that automotive computing will become increasingly centralized, and the Starry Sky chip will begin mass production in October and achieve large-scale mass production next year, running both cockpit and intelligent driving tasks on the same chip. Originally, the two systems each had their own chips and memory; integration can reduce redundant hardware configurations.

According to Horizon Robotics' previously announced plan, Starry Sky can simultaneously deploy cockpit AI applications and advanced driver assistance models, and set up safety mechanisms to allow the two types of functions to operate in tandem while remaining isolated from each other.

"DDR prices have skyrocketed, and automakers are paying memory manufacturers for their products," said Yu Kai. He explained that Starry Sky can combine two DDR systems into one, saving on memory costs. According to Horizon Robotics' calculations when they launched Starry Sky in April of this year, the solution could reduce hardware costs by 1,500 to 4,000 yuan per vehicle, with iCAR being the first automaker to partner with them.

The product structure differs in overseas operations. Yu Kai stated that Horizon Robotics' overseas ADAS orders have exceeded 20 million units, and the company is expanding its market through partners such as Bosch, Denso, Astemo, and Aumoway. Currently, overseas consumers' demand is still mainly for basic driver assistance systems, and the popularization of advanced functions will take longer.

This also determines Horizon Robotics' pace of development in different markets: in China, HSD and high-performance computing chips will be introduced to more brands and price segments to strive for a higher market share in urban assisted driving; overseas, basic assisted driving will be used to meet mass production demand first.

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