Xiaomi responds to “autonomous vehicle road test”: testing autonomous driving technology, not our car

IT House reported on July 8 that yesterday, a photo of a vehicle with “Xiaomi Autonomous Driving Test” on its body was circulated on the Internet, and the picture showed that its roof may be equipped with lidar.

According to a report by the Financial Associated Press, in response to the rumors of “Xiaomi’s self-driving car road test”, a relevant person from Xiaomi responded, “This is us testing self-driving technology, not our car. “

In March 2021, Lei Jun announced at the Xiaomi spring new product launch conference that Xiaomi officially entered the smart electric vehicle industry. In September 2021, Xiaomi Automobile Co., Ltd. was officially established with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan. In December 2021, Zhimi Technology, an ecological chain company controlled by Xiaomi, ended up building cars. In April 2022, Xiaomi Auto’s car manufacturing base in Yizhuang New Town, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone will start construction.

In the field of autonomous driving, Xiaomi Group has successively invested in Zongmu Technology, Hesai Technology, and Ai Parking in autonomous driving companies, and later acquired Shendong Technology, which has allowed Xiaomi Group to accumulate a lot of autonomous driving field foundation. At present, Xiaomi has obtained patents such as “image processing method and device, vehicle, readable storage medium”, “automatic overtaking method, device, vehicle, storage medium and chip”.

IT House learned that when Xiaomi announced its full-year results in March this year, Xiaomi said in the financial report that the current progress of car manufacturing has exceeded expectations. At the same time, Xiaomi’s automotive business R&D team has exceeded 1,000 people, and will continue to expand R&D in core areas such as autonomous driving and smart cockpits in the future.

According to the plan, Xiaomi’s first model is expected to be officially mass-produced in 2024.