The first batch of L3 level autonomous driving vehicle models have been approved for admission and will soon be officially launched on the road; The "unicorn" intelligent driving enterprise backed by large car companies has fallen into a comprehensive "shutdown"; At the same time, overseas giants have been exposed to re-enter the market, and leading car companies are also investing heavily in third-party intelligent driving enterprises... Recently, the intelligent driving market is undergoing a new round of reshuffle. Industry experts say that with the continuous iteration of technology and the expansion of application scale, the intelligent driving industry is gradually entering the "elimination competition" stage of "survival of the strong" from "wild growth". In the future, the survival of enterprises will require competition in various fields such as technology, profitability, and commercial implementation. Not long ago, it was revealed that Zhixing, a smart driving enterprise, had completely "shut down" and many employees had not received their salaries for several months. It is reported that Wumo Zhixing is backed by Great Wall Motors. Its official website shows that the main models equipped with the company's assisted driving system are all models under Great Wall Motors, and the company was once valued at billions of yuan. However, after experiencing continuous layoffs and executive departures, the company still fell into a state of "shutdown". The fate of a single act of wisdom is not an isolated case. In the past year, autonomous driving companies such as Zongmu Technology and Qingyan Weishi, which have completed multiple rounds of financing and have considerable scale, have also fallen into bankruptcy, liquidation, or deep restructuring. The other side of industry reshuffling is the concentration of resources towards top enterprises and the rearrangement of strategic players. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology conditionally approved two L3 level autonomous driving (conditional autonomous driving) vehicle models, namely the Changan SC7000AAARBEV pure electric sedan and the Jihu BJ7001A61NBEV pure electric sedan, which can carry out L3 level conditional autonomous driving road trials on some roads in Chongqing and Beijing respectively. The reporter learned that the access permit obtained this time has changed from "allowing practice" to "allowing official road use". At present, both BAIC and Changan have completed the first batch of official license plates for L3 level autonomous driving in China, and will carry out road traffic pilot projects on some sections. Among them, "Beijing AA0001Z" represents the first official license plate for autonomous driving in China that is not restricted by highway congestion environment. Third party intelligent driving companies have also made progress. Yuanrong Qixing became a supplier of intelligent driving solutions for Great Wall Motors last year and received an exclusive investment of $100 million from Great Wall Motors. Within one year of achieving mass production, they delivered 200000 sets of urban navigation assisted driving solutions. Zhuoyu Technology (formerly DJI Automotive) recently announced that it has received a strategic investment of over 3.6 billion yuan from China FAW Group Co., Ltd. It is understood that after the completion of the transaction, Zhuoyu will maintain an independent development business strategy, with a post investment valuation exceeding RMB 10 billion. Meanwhile, Zhuoyu will operate as an independent legal entity, maintaining its existing management team, technological roadmap, and brand strategy unchanged. Overseas giants are also making efforts. It was revealed that GM was seeking help from former employees of Cruise, its failed robot taxi startup, to promote a new autonomous vehicle plan. Currently, the autonomous driving technology roadmap is showing a diversified development trend. ”Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association, admitted that fierce market competition has led to some companies' products being abandoned by mainstream car companies due to low technical efficiency and weak AI capabilities, and their technological routes have also been eliminated. This is a normal phenomenon in the field of intelligent driving where a hundred flowers bloom, leading enterprises quickly compete, and mid to late end enterprises accelerate their clearance. The calm of the capital market towards rational capital has become a key footnote to the transformation of the autonomous driving industry. According to IT Orange data, the investment heat in the autonomous driving/assisted driving track reached its peak in 2021, with nearly 50 investment cases and an investment amount of over 30 billion yuan, and then continued to decline. Afterwards, the investment heat rebounded slightly in 2024, with an investment amount of 28.5 billion yuan, but the funds clearly tilted towards top enterprises, with only 21 investment cases. Since the beginning of this year, the investment amount has once again declined to less than 12 billion yuan. Tao Gao, Co Director of Automotive Analysis at S&P Global Automotive Greater China, stated in an interview with reporters that due to the delayed implementation of advanced autonomous driving solutions, the enthusiasm of the current capital market has weakened, leading to internal adjustments within the industry. As more giants enter the field of intelligent driving, competition will become more intense. In the future, a market pattern will be formed where the strong become stronger and the weak are eliminated. This rational return stems from a clear understanding of technological bottlenecks. At present, there is no signal of a breakthrough in technological theory. In the next three years, the industry will focus more on the ultimate optimization of existing systems rather than the reconstruction of theoretical cores. The industry will enter a stage of 'hard times', "said Su Jing, Vice President and Chief Architect of Horizon Robotics, at the 2025 Horizon Robotics Technology Ecology Conference. It is expected that the smart driving industry will further integrate next year, and ecological cooperation will tend to deepen. Independent autonomous driving companies are facing greater market pressure, and it is expected that there will be more cases of business integration, strategic transformation, or acquisition. At the same time, the cooperative relationship between vehicle manufacturers and leading intelligent driving solution suppliers will become closer and more solid, forming an industrial ecosystem alliance with core technology enterprises as the core. As a result, market concentration will increase and the industry landscape will become clearer. ”Yao Yinguo, Senior Analyst at the Automotive Industry Research Center of CCID Consulting Co., Ltd., stated. Enterprises are facing multiple challenges in the face of the "elimination race", and the remaining enterprises are still under pressure. Commercialization is facing many difficulties, and although the pilot scale is expanding, how to establish a sustainable business model is still a difficult problem that enterprises aspiring to challenge autonomous driving technology need to answer. Public data shows that in the first half of 2025, only a few mainstream listed intelligent driving companies in China will make profits, and most companies will be deeply mired in losses. Wenyuan Zhixing and Xiaoma Zhixing, which both landed on the Hong Kong stock market this year, have successfully gone public, but there is still a long way to go to connect their business models. Behind the profit pressure faced by enterprises is a comprehensive competition in multiple fields such as technological iteration, user experience, and cost control. Yao Yinguo pointed out that commercial verification has become one of the core thresholds for the development of intelligent driving enterprises. Investors and industries have significantly increased their requirements for verifiable technological achievements, clear profit paths, and excellent cost control capabilities. Technical strength is no longer the only criterion for judgment, so relevant enterprises must simultaneously answer the three questions of "cost, compliance, and mass production capability". The relevant person in charge of Yuanrong Qixing also believes that the simultaneous expansion with the market is the upgrading of consumer demand for product capabilities. The focus of users on intelligent driving technology has shifted from a single high-speed scenario to complex road conditions in urban areas. Assistive driving systems that can cope with urban congestion and complex traffic scenarios at intersections will be more favored by consumers. The underlying technology of the assisted driving system is strongly related to AI technology, and the rapid updates and iterations of AI technology have intensified the industry's updates and iterations. In addition, at the capital level, the early 'casting a net' investment in the industry has receded, and capital is concentrating on top and commercially clear projects, achieving a situation of 'strong always strong'. ”The above-mentioned person in charge stated. However, under pressure, the industry is still accelerating its development. According to Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, the technology maturity process of advanced assisted driving turning to RoboTaxi (autonomous taxi) is accelerating due to data-driven factors, and it is expected that the entire industry will move towards full scenario autonomous driving in the next 5 to 10 years. ”Fu Bingfeng, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, stated that enterprises should take the opportunity of obtaining licenses for L3 level products and actively assume their main responsibilities. We must strictly adhere to the safety bottom line, continuously polish the technological maturity and improve the safety verification system in the process of intelligent connected vehicle access and road traffic pilot. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen data governance, establish and improve data security and network security management systems, and ensure data traceability and controllable risks. In exploring business closed loops, it is necessary to actively explore sustainable business models while ensuring safety, and accumulate valuable experience for subsequent scale promotion and application. Autonomous driving is a must-have for us and a key trend in empowering electric vehicles with AI for better development. ”Cui Dongshu stated that in the future, intelligent electric vehicles will achieve a fundamental transformation from transportation to smart consumer goods through this seamless autonomous driving experience, creating new value for consumers. (New Society)