(Yicai Global) April 21 -- An increasing number of Chinese auto tech startups are linking up with multinational carmakers or their main component suppliers, thanks to the rapid growth of China’s auto market and the rapid development of smart connected vehicles across the industry.

German auto supplier ZF is using the algorithms of Chinese intelligent driving system supplier CalmCar in its parking vision products for the first time, Xing Xun, engineering director and head of the electronics and advanced driver assistance systems division at ZF, told Yicai Global at Auto Shanghai 2021.

Cooperation with CalmCar has filled ZF’s past technical gaps and enabled its products to achieve fully automatic parking with sensor perception, Xing said. The partnership enables ZF’s products to achieve autonomous parking through software upgrades without adding any new hardware infrastructure, he said.

Based on artificial intelligence and environmental perception, CalmCar’s technology captures huge amounts of data and uses a perfected self-developed model, CalmCar co-founder Wang Ruoyu told Yicai Global.

This CalmCar technology is now compatible with the world’s mainstream auto chip platforms, including Nvidia, Texas Instruments, HiSilicon, and Black Sesame Technologies. This will provide greater flexibility for original equipment manufacturers and first-tier suppliers that use this technology.

Auto Shanghai Deals

In addition, renowned auto parts supplier Aptiv has reached cooperation deals with a number of Chinese autonomous driving startups at Auto Shanghai, including Raythink.

Yang Xiaoming, president of Aptiv Asia Pacific, told Yicai Global that an important reason for choosing to work with more Chinese startups is that they have much business flexibility and can quickly and effectively translate customer demands into solutions.

Regarding the phenomenon of established global firms joining hands with Chinese tech startups, Dr. Stephen Dyer, managing director of AlixPartners’ Shanghai office, told Yicai Global that as the auto market moves towards smart electric vehicles, the development of driving systems and advanced driver assistance systems is becoming the focus of business transformation for traditional parts suppliers. This, in turn, provides market opportunities for self-driving ecosystems developed by Chinese startups.

Dyer believes the fragmentation of self-driving ecosystems will continue for some time, but could still develop into a more vertically integrated mature industry in the future.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Peter Thomas