Horizon Robotics

Horizon Robotics is a  Chinese technology company headquartered in Beijing. The company develops artificial intelligence (AI) chips used in self-driving cars and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

Background
Horizon Robotics was founded in 2015 by several former Baidu employees. One of them was Yu Kai who previously led Baidu's self-driving car division.

The company was funded by notable investors that included Intel, Hillhouse Investment, HongShan, Yuri Milner, Sinovation Ventures and Yunfeng Capital. Other backers include BYD, Chery and CATL. Due to the United States New Export Controls on Advanced Computing and Semiconductors to China attracted more interest from investors who felt Horizon Robotics could be an alternative to Nvidia in China which had abide with selling restrictions.

In December 2017, Horizon Robotics launched Journey 1.0, the first generation of its AI chips used in vehicles. It would help cars recognize external objects in a low power consumption manner.

Originally Horizon Robotics planned to hold an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States that could raise as much as $1 billion. However, in October 2021, it was reported that it changed its IPO country to Hong Kong instead. This came at a time where the Chinese government was increasing scrutiny of overseas listings.

In October 2022, Volkswagen Group invested $2.3 billion to establish a joint venture (JV) with Horizon Robotics. The JV was named Carizon and was aimed to develop in-house vehicle software for Volkswagen.

At the 2023 World Internet Conference, Yu announced that the number of vehicles featuring navigate on autopilot (NoA) equipped with Horizon Robotics chips has surpassed that of Nvidia. According to a report from China Money Network, Horizon Robotics controlled 49% of the Chinese self-driving chip market in 2023.

In March 2024, Horizon Robotics submitted its IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The offering is expected to raise $500 million.

While Horizon Robotics mainly focuses on developing AI chips used in the automobile industry, it also develops AI chips that are used in surveillance cameras and other internet-connected smart devices. It holds partnerships with Chery, Audi, SAIC Motor and SK Telecom.