(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkshire Hathaway-backed BYD has signed key strategic partnerships in order to become a leading provider of self-driving cars.
The company has announced that Horizon Robotics will provide its self-driving “Journey 5” computer chip for certain BYD models set to be launched next year. BYD models equipped with the Journey 5 chip will be available by mid-2023 at the earliest, and BYD is the first car company to announce that it will use the Journey 5 chip in its vehicles.
Horizon Robotics mission statement is “To harness the full potential of AI, we constantly push the boundaries of innovation in AI processors, AI algorithms, AI compute systems and AI toolchains.”
First unveiled in August 2021, Horizon Robotics’ third-generation automotive-grade AI processor Journey 5 is designed for Level-4 high autonomous driving. The company also launched a real-time operating system TogetherOS, which will be fully open to partners along the automotive industry chain.
Kai Yu, founder and chief executive officer of Horizon Robotics, said: “We are proud to become the industry’s first provider of AI processors that enable Level-2 to Level-4 autonomous driving. Horizon is committed to exploring the best human-car interaction experience in both autonomous driving and in-cabin smart system, which we believe is the future of intelligent vehicles. But we cannot do it alone. We open our operating system and toolchains to customers and partners so that they can design solutions catering to their needs and automatically upgrade their software based on our Journey processors.”
In December 2021, BYD made a strategic investment in RoboSense, a world’s leading smart LiDAR system technology company and signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement.
RoboSense is a pioneer in the core technologies of LiDAR hardware, smart sensor software and chips. As the partnership deepens, RoboSense will keep pace with BYD, continuously upgrade the technological capacity in intelligent perception, and form a deeply integrated technology matrix to broaden the vertical coverage across the industry chain and jointly promote the innovation and transformation of the smart new energy vehicle industry.
RoboSense and Horizon Robotics
Also in December 2021, RoboSense formed a strategic partnership with Horizon Robotics to mobilize their respective technological capacity and mass production experience to roll out in-depth cooperation focusing on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving, robotics, new intelligent transportation infrastructure and other applications.
Leveraging its leading smart LiDAR software and hardware technologies, RoboSense will join hands with Horizon Robotics to promote the large-scale commercialization of all segments of intelligent connected vehicle.
According to the partnership agreement, based on RoboSense’s second generation smart solid-state LiDAR RS-LiDAR-M1 and Horizon Robotics’ Journey 3 and Journey 5 automotive smart chips, the two companies will collaborate on the development and adaptation of integrated perception solutions for high-level autonomous driving pre-installed mass production. In the future, the partners will mobilize their respective advantageous industry resources to jointly promote the all-round standardized implementation of the domestic intelligent connected transportation industry.
BYD recently announced that it would no longer produce gas-only cars, and its March new energy vehicle sales in China hit a record 104,878 vehicles, as compared to only 24,218 in March 2021.
BYD and Berkshire Hathaway
In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares for $232 million. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $232 million had grown in value to $7.69 billion as of December 31, 2021.
© 2022 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway and BYD, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell a stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.