91 Ten Articles: Lifelong ban shatters Jia Yueting’s dream of making cars, and the commercialization of intelligent connected cars is accelerating

1. Faraday Future announced that it will merge with SPAC and go public in the United States in the next few weeks to raise more than $1 billion. Its market value after listing could reach $3.4 billion. CEO Breitfeld even announced that it plans to achieve a sales target of 2,400 electric vehicles in 2022. However, analysts pointed out that with the China Securities Regulatory Commission's lifetime ban from the market, Jia Yueting's dream of making cars may really end.

2. GAC Aion announced that its smart ecological factory will be expanded, with an estimated investment of RMB 500 million. It plans to double its production capacity by early 2022, and its annual production capacity will be expanded to 200,000 vehicles from the original 100,000 vehicles. GAC Aion's cumulative sales in the first quarter of this year were approximately 17,600 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 120.89%.

3. While the state and local governments have intensively issued various policies, standards and regulations related to intelligent connected vehicles, the commercial demonstration development of intelligent connected vehicles in various places has entered the practical stage. These intelligent connected vehicle commercial demonstration projects are mostly located in demonstration areas or pilot areas. So far, many places across the country have built intelligent connected vehicle demonstration areas and pilot areas, and Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing have successively carried out commercial operation demonstrations.

4. Xpeng Motors announced a long-term strategic partnership with China's leading auto dealer Zhongsheng Group to provide consumers with leading smart electric vehicle products and high-quality services to further accelerate Xpeng Motors' sales growth and enhance after-sales service capabilities.

5. Geely is trying to list its luxury electric car subsidiary Polestar in the United States, with a valuation of up to $40 billion. Geely sees Polestar as a strategic brand to compete with Tesla. Polestar's Swedish headquarters is responsible for design, while car manufacturing is carried out in China.

6. Cruise, an autonomous vehicle company, said it received an additional investment of $2.75 billion from Walmart and other companies in its latest round of financing. Currently, the company's valuation has exceeded $30 billion.

7. Aulton New Energy and Sinopec signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The two parties will carry out all-round and in-depth cooperation across the country around the construction and operation of battery swap stations, energy replenishment technology upgrades and business model innovation. By accelerating the layout of the national battery swap network, they will jointly build a diversified integrated energy service platform of "oil, gas, hydrogen and electricity". The two parties plan to reach 5,000 battery swap stations nationwide by 2025 and build 100 city-level battery swap service networks.

8. Mercedes-Benz launched the EQS pure electric sedan with L3 autonomous driving function. EQS is Mercedes-Benz's first vehicle to adopt a dedicated electric vehicle platform. It will be launched in Europe and the United States in August this year. In January 2022, the car will be launched in China. The EQS has a range of 770 kilometers.

9. Autonomous driving company Mobileye has reached a cooperation with Udelv, whereby the former will equip thousands of Udelv's autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs) with the autonomous driving system "Mobileye Drive". The two companies plan to produce 35,000 Udelv driverless trucks by 2028 and achieve commercial operation in 2023.

10. Ford plans to offer its new “hands-free” highway driving assistance system BlueCruise to consumers later this year. Based on sales and expected sales, Ford plans to sell more than 100,000 vehicles equipped with this technology in the first year of product launch.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.