Xiaomi has strengthened its autonomous driving team as the company faces increasing scrutiny over multiple accidents with its debut model SU7.
Local media outlet 36Kr reported on Thursday that the Chinese giant has hired Guang Chen as its new Head of Perception for Assisted Driving. The executive replaces Cai Rui, who has moved to the robotics unit of Xiaomi.
Previously, Chen was serving as chief technology officer (CTO) of China’s state-owned automaker FAW.
There, he served at FAW Group‘s Research Institute in Nanjing, where he did research for autonomous driving technologies.
His team was responsible for the development of the third-gen robotaxi from FAW‘s premium brand Hongqi. The driverless model featured Level 4 autonomy and had completed over 100,000 kilometers of autonomous road tests by mid-2024.
Prior to FAW, Chen also worked at Baidu’s Apollo R&D Center in the U.S. as head of perception systems.
Chen holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Missouri, USA, and has done extensive research, with practical expertise, in AI and computer vision.
At Xiaomi, Chen will answer directly to the head of assisted driving, Ye Hangjun. According to the report, the brand’s assisted driving team integrates around 1,200 people and is divided into two groups.
One is focused on end-to-end algorithms and functions, which reportedly will be Chen’s team. The other is responsible for technology research and development.
In February 2024, China’s tech giant introduced its full-scenario, end-to-end assisted driving system. It came just six months after the department responsible for the system was officially formed.
The initial version was trained on 3 million video clips, with plans to scale up to 10 million clips to further enhance the system’s capabilities. A year ago, the company rolled out a rule-based city NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) solution to users.
The system was integrated into Xiaomi‘s debut EV, the SU7 sedan, which was launched in March 2024. Over the last few months, several pictures and videos have been shared showing accidents involving the SU7 model, stirring debate on its safety.
According to CEO Lei Jun, the upcoming YU7 SUV, set to roll out in July, will feature a full-suite assisted driving hardware as standard on all trims to alleviate safety concerns.
Industry insiders told 36Kr that Xiaomi might also be developing VLA (Vision-Language-Action) models, an initiative led by Chen Long, former Principal Scientist at UK-based Wayve.
In late April, it was reported that the company established an R&D center in Germany, as it plans to expand to “global markets within the next few years.”
The team, based in Munich and led by former BMW veteran Rudolf Dittrich, will allegedly do performance tuning work for the brand’s subsequent models, including the upcoming SUV YU7.
Earlier this week, Xiaomi reported its first quarter earnings results, with the revenue from its EV unit reaching 18.1 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) — up 11% from the previous quarter.
