In 2024, Ideal Automobile became a major highlight in China's Smart Automobile market with a cumulative delivery volume exceeding 1 million vehicles. However, behind this glory, Ideal Automobile is undergoing an unprecedented transformation.

Recently, CEO Li Xiang announced a bold Global Strategy in an exclusive interview with Tencent Technology's Zhang Xiaojun, stating that Ideal Automobile is no longer just an auto manufacturing company but an AI company.

From extended range technology to the considerations behind AI.

As the pure electric vehicle trend sweeps through the market, Ideal Automobile has emerged uniquely with "extended range" technology. However, now that competitors are gradually following this technological route, Li Xiang has once again chosen to be different.

He believes that the "electrification" of electric vehicles is only the first half, while the real second half is "intelligence." However, the intelligence here is not the traditional sense of software intelligence, but a complete evolution empowered by AI.

Li Xiang stated: "The automobile will evolve from a means of transportation in the industrial age to a spatial robot in the AI age. Electrification is a transitional stage, while AI is the core of future competition."

This transformation did not happen suddenly. Li Xiang revealed that as early as September 2022, Ideal had established AI as its strategic core internally, which was publicly announced at the beginning of 2023. He admitted that the emergence of ChatGPT accelerated the publicization of this strategy from being "hidden" to a "covert plan."

“ChatGPT has ushered in a new era of AI, reinforcing our belief that Smart Automobile must be centered on AI, not just the intelligence of Hardware.”

Ideal Classmate & Smart Driving

AI applications have not stayed in the conceptual stage; Ideal Autos has already invested heavily in R&D. Li Xiang revealed that nearly half of Ideal's R&D investment is allocated to AI.

Two core AI products are driving the implementation of this strategy:

1) Ideal Classmate: Initially an in-car assistant, it is now expanding to mobile applications, and in the future, it will cover multi-terminal scenarios such as homes and glasses.

“We have a 1 million family user base, which allows Ideal Classmate to quickly expand to more scenarios, providing users with a consistent AI experience.”

2) Smart Driving: From ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) to L4 level autonomous driving, Ideal Autos insists on self-research, covering domain controllers, vehicle platforms, and core algorithms. Li Xiang even proposed a new industry Concept: the “VLA” model, which represents the deep integration of AI capabilities in “Vision, Language, and Action.”

“Large models are the operating system and programming language of AI, and Ideal must master this core Technology.”

In addition, Li Xiang stated that the realization of L4 level autonomous driving will make family vehicles cheaper and more efficient. However, he does not believe that Robotaxi (unmanned taxis) will replace family vehicles, but rather hopes to enhance the experience of family vehicles, encouraging more people to choose to own their own Smart Automobile.

"Family vehicles are not just means of transportation; they are a moving 'home'. They represent high-quality companionship and a safe and comfortable environment."

AI, the ideal future of everything.

Li Xiang sees AI as the cornerstone of all future Business. In his vision, the ultimate goal is to connect the physical world with the digital world through AI, achieving comprehensive empowerment of technology in human life.

He divides the development of AI in Ideal Automobile into three stages:

1) Enhancement capability stage: AI serves as an auxiliary tool to provide efficiency support for humans. For example, in L3 level autonomous driving, users are still responsible for the driving results.

2) Intelligent agent stage: Entering a true large-scale application stage. AI can independently complete complex tasks, such as L4 level autonomous driving or handling daily affairs.

3) Silicon-based family stage: AI not only becomes a family member but even becomes the core organizer of the household, capable of autonomously managing family affairs and preserving user memories.

Li Xiang looked forward to saying: “Ultimately, we hope that AI can serve not only families but also extend our memories and happiness. Silicon-based families are the ideal ultimate goal.”

When asked how to become a leading Global AI enterprise in the current geopolitical environment, Li Xiang stated that he does not believe this goal is out of reach.

He took the Chinese automobile industry as an example, stating that in the past the best cars in the world came from Germany, but today, Chinese companies have become benchmarks in the Smart Automobile field. “Although USA AI companies are powerful, as long as Chinese companies do not give up and work hard every day, anything is possible.”

He emphasized that the growth path of Li Auto is phased:

• Short-term goal: To become the number one in the spatial intelligence field in China and to enter the top three in the large language model field.

• Mid to long-term goal: To achieve deep integration of language intelligence and spatial intelligence, and to build a unified VLA model.

What is the VLA model? On July 28, 2023, Google DeepMind launched the world’s first visual language action (VLA) model for controlling robots, which quickly spread to the intelligent driving field.

At the end of October this year, Waymo launched an end-to-end autonomous driving multimodal model EMMA, which has both end-to-end intelligent driving capabilities and integrates multimodal large models.

Source: Newin, Original title: "Express delivery | Li Xiang discusses the latest Global Strategy of 'Ideal' - Transforming into an AI company, aiming for the top 3 domestic large models, and building a unified VLA model in the future to become your silicon-based family."