Exclusive: Li Auto's Former Intelligent Driving Product Director Zhao Zhelun Leaves to Start Up in Embodied AI
Exclusive: Li Auto's Former Autonomous Driving Product Director Zhao Zhelun Leaves to Start a Business, Joining the Embodied AI Track
42 Hertz exclusively learned that Zhao Zhelun, former Product Director of Autonomous Driving at Li Auto, has recently resigned. He is now serving as a co-founder of Vitas Power (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., alongside Yu Yinan, former Vice President and former President of the Software Platform Product Line at Horizon Robotics. The new venture will primarily focus on the productization and marketing of embodied AI.
Zhao joined Li Auto in June 2020, where he was responsible for the lifecycle definition and delivery of autonomous driving products for the Li ONE (Horizon Journey 3 platform) and the Li L series (NVIDIA Orin-X platform and Horizon Journey 5 platform).
During this period, Li Auto launched the industry's first mass-produced intelligent driving products based on the Horizon Journey 3 and Horizon Journey 5 platforms. Meanwhile, Li Auto's AD Max platform (based on NVIDIA Orin-X) became an industry-leading intelligent driving product through OTA iterations driven by user needs.
In June 2024, Zhao joined Li Auto's newly established product line team as the head of marketing for the first product line, overseeing marketing efforts for the Li L9 and Li MEGA. On December 22, cumulative monthly orders for the Li MEGA surpassed 1,000 units for the first time.
Prior to joining Li Auto, Zhao was among China's first entrepreneurs focusing on the smart vehicle field through self-media ventures, having co-founded "42 Hao Garage." His Weibo account, "Captain Zhelun," is well-known within the smart automotive community, boasting nearly 500,000 followers.
Business registration information shows that Vitas Power (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. was established on December 9, 2024. Yu Yinan serves as the legal representative with a shareholding of 71.4288%. Zhao Zhelun is one of the shareholders, holding 14.2856% of the shares. Another co-founder, Song Wei, also holds 14.2856%.
Vita Dynamics co-founder Song Wei graduated from Tsinghua University. He is the former Chief Architect of Horizon Robotics' software platform and a founding member of its autonomous driving team. Joined Horizon in May 2016, he was responsible for application solution design and product implementation for five generations of the Journey series chips, from Journey 1 launched in 2017 to Journey 6 in 2024. Song has extensive experience in the full-stack AI engineering implementation of hardware and software in the autonomous driving industry, and will be in charge of Vita Dynamics' intelligent systems and robotics engineering.
Vita Dynamics founder Yu Yinan joined Horizon Robotics in 2015. According to media reports, Yu is Horizon's fifth employee and one of its founding team members. During his tenure at Horizon, Yu served as President of the Software Product Line, primarily focusing on autonomous driving technology and product development.
It is reported that Vita Dynamics focuses on R&D of AI technology and robotics, aiming to create robot products for users.
This year, the field of Embodied AI has been quite hot, especially for new startups whose R&D, products, and investment/financing are experiencing explosive growth and rapid expansion. Among them, China's automotive industry has taken the lead in entering the Embodied AI sector.
BAIC Capital has invested in two robotics companies this year: Galaxy General and Pasini Perception. SAIC Motor's layout is broader; Zhiyuan Robot and Jizhi Dynamics have received investment from SAIC-affiliated institutions three times this year. In addition, Zhiyuan Robot, which received investment from SAIC, also secured funding from BYD last year.
At XPeng Motors' Tech Day held in 2023, XPeng debuted its self-developed humanoid robot PX5 for the first time. The second-generation humanoid robot, Iron, also made its appearance at XPeng's AI Tech Day this year. In April this year, GAC Group announced it is collaborating with leading global enterprises across fields such as smart manufacturing, automotive aftermarket services, and smart living to explore bright future application scenarios for humanoid robots.
In addition, 2024 has also been a key year for other companies in the Embodied AI industry to secure financing:
- Unitree Robotics secured nearly 1 billion yuan in its B++ round this year, and completed another C-round financing of several hundred million yuan in September, making it the king of fundraising among domestic humanoid robot startups this year.
- Starry Era obtained over one hundred million yuan in angel-round financing earlier this year, and completed a Pre-A round of nearly 300 million yuan on October 16.
- Xinghai Tu has completed three rounds of financing this year: an angel round of tens of millions of US dollars, followed by an angel+ round from the Beijing Robot Industry Investment Fund, and another Pre-A round of over 200 million yuan in November.
- Accelerated Evolution completed two rounds of financing this year—an angel+ round and a Pre-A round—with the first amounting to tens of millions of yuan and the second reaching the hundred-million-yuan level.
- Songyan Dynamics completed angel-round and Pre-A round financings in March and June respectively, with neither transaction amount disclosed.
- Stardust Intelligence secured a Pre-A round of financing worth tens of millions of US dollars this year.
From this, it can be anticipated that the embodied AI track will become even more popular in the upcoming 2025, potentially becoming another innovative product that changes our lifestyle, following autonomous driving and generative AI.