Horizon Robotics CEO Yu Kai estimated on the September 30, 2026 episode of In Good Company that about 95% of the company's business then focused on passenger cars. The programme description said one in three smart vehicles on Chinese roads used Horizon's chips and software. Yu named BYD and Volkswagen among its clients and said heavy investment and slow returns could create high entry barriers. Host Nicolai Tangen proposed model cycles of two years in China and five in Europe; Yu linked the difference to competition, hard work and process improvements.
In the episode published on September 30, 2026, Horizon Robotics founder and CEO Kai Yu said the company supplies chips and software to automakers including BYD, Geely, Chery, Volkswagen and Toyota. The episode notes say its technology is used in one in three intelligent cars on Chinese roads. Yu said the business requires heavy investment and generates slow returns, but argued that those features create high barriers to entry. The notes also describe discussion of 580 new models launched in China over six months and a path toward hands-off driving by 2028 and fully mind-off cars by 2035.
The guest in this episode is Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics. Horizon Robotics provides autonomous driving chips and software to automakers such as BYD, Geely, Chery, Volkswagen, and Toyota. Currently, one out of every three smart vehicles on China's roads uses its technology. In the interview, Yu Kai explained why the company insists on being a platform technology supplier rather than building cars, discussed the competitive intensity of China's market where 580 new models are launched in half a year, and laid out an autonomous driving roadmap: fully hands-off driving by 2028, eyes-off driving by 2030, and fully mind-off driving by 2035. He also shared his understanding of Zen philosophy—"living in the moment" as the core of focus and happiness.
Yu Kai explains that Horizon Robotics' core business is to provide a computing platform for all general-purpose robots, including autonomous vehicles. Currently, approximately 95%-100% of its business is focused on passenger cars. Its chips run the entire software stack, from camera perception to trajectory planning and control, functioning as "the brain of the car."
Customers: Chinese OEMs such as BYD, Geely, Chery, Changan, and Great Wall Motors, as well as global OEMs including Volkswagen, Toyota, and Suzuki.
Competitors: Mobileye, Huawei, Black Sesame Technologies, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, Renesas, NXP, among others.
Yu Kai believes that the Chinese automotive computing market has largely consolidated into three leading players: NVIDIA, Huawei, and Horizon Robotics.
Yu Kai explicitly states that Horizon Robotics has never intended to manufacture cars. He positions the company as "Microsoft + Intel for robots" , with the goal of becoming a platform that empowers all brands, rather than serving just one.
> "Xpeng might help only one brand become attractive, but I want to empower and help all brands, all cars."
He argues that the influence and commercial value of a platform-based business model far exceed those of building a single brand of cars.
Yu Kai describes China’s auto market: “You really don’t see any other market like this.” There are currently about 60–70 different car brands, and in what he described as the first half of the year alone, over 580 new models were launched.
The competition is driven by two factors: intense market rivalry and consumer demand for smart features (automatic parking, autonomous driving, intelligent cockpits, etc.).
Yu Kai compares product development cycles:
| Stage | Timing described by Yu |
|---|---|
| Chip and solution development | Usually about 3–4 years; he did not split this stage by the customer’s region |
| Vehicle-platform production after a design win | About 2 years for Chinese OEMs and typically about 5 years for global OEMs |
| Overall investment-to-return cycle | He summarized it as about 5–8 years to emphasize the slow return; these were spoken estimates, not additive bounds for a precise schedule |
He explains that Chinese OEMs “work extremely hard and have a very strong sense of competition,” and “they don’t have summer vacations” (unlike Europe, where 30–40 days of vacation are common).
Yu Kai quotes a German friend who calls China a “supply chain wonderland”—no matter how novel the idea, there is always a partner or supplier to help realize it. A flight from Beijing to Shenzhen takes only three hours, and the entire country operates as “one village.”
Yu Kai acknowledges that Horizon Robotics' business model involves "heavy investment and slow returns," but he believes this is precisely its advantage:
> "In a sense, this is a terrible business—heavy investment, slow returns. But in my view, sometimes a terrible business means a good business, because the barriers to entry for new players are extremely high."
Sources of barriers:
Yu Kai emphasizes that Horizon Robotics' culture is not competition-oriented but value-creation-oriented. "Our philosophy is to make friends, building long-term trust with customers and partners." He believes that precisely because many companies are unwilling to enter this "slow business," Horizon Robotics has few direct competitors in China.
Yu Kai defined three stages of autonomous driving in language consumers can understand:
| Stage | Definition | Target Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Hands-Free Driving | No need to hold the steering wheel at all | End of 2028 |
| Eyes-Free Driving | No need to keep eyes on the road | End of 2030 |
| Mind-Free Driving | Can sleep in the car | End of 2035 |
Yu Kai stated that Horizon Robotics' latest software stack, SuperDrive (running on the Journey 6T SoC), has already achieved a "fully hands-free" experience. He likened it to a "smarter version of an automatic transmission" — evolving from manual to automatic, and now to intelligent automatic.
To achieve fully hands-free driving, the following are still needed:
Yu Kai believes that progress in autonomous driving requires the combined effect of three factors:
Yu Kai firmly believes that the technologies for automobiles and robots will ultimately "truly converge" into a unified computing platform. Automobiles need to perceive their environment, understand pedestrian intentions, interpret traffic police gestures, and make decisions in complex traffic conditions — "This is essentially no different from the computing model of any other robot."
Yu Kai's core argument:
> "If you win the electric vehicle supply chain, you will win the robot supply chain."
Rationale: The automotive business has a large scale, and competition drives suppliers to continuously optimize costs, performance, and size. These achievements can be directly applied to robots. He drew an analogy to the model where winners in the mobile phone supply chain later dominated the IoT business.
Yu Kai's prediction for humanoid robots is relatively conservative (he describes himself as "more conservative than many people"): Meaningful mass production may occur within 5 years. The primary application scenarios are first household services (cleaning, post-cooking cleanup, dog walking), followed by elderly care and labor substitution — which he believes is a severe social challenge facing China.
Yu Kai explicitly stated his dislike for the "zero-sum game" perspective:
> "If the U.S. robotics industry collaborates with the Chinese ecosystem, they can actually become more innovative and accelerate the pace of innovation. If they rely solely on their own supply chain, the speed of technological innovation will actually be slower."
He believes that in the past, global companies made money from China, and the current situation should not swing to the other extreme—Chinese companies seizing markets in Europe. The new opportunity lies in "working together, exploring new markets together, and creating global value together."
When discussing European cooperation, Yu emphasized synergies with Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics in areas such as analog chips and MCUs. Earlier he had also named NXP among a broader set of competitors. The two passages address different scopes: broad competition and cooperation in particular technical areas.
Horizon Robotics has approximately 2,000 employees, most of whom are software or hardware engineers. The company has no fixed working hours and does not measure employees by the hours they work. "What we care about is how far we can go," said Yu Kai. Engineers have a strong sense of "ownership," and many also work remotely.
Yu Kai believes that Horizon Robotics' innovation stems from being "vision-driven" rather than "opportunity-driven" or "competition-driven." In China, any business that seems even slightly interesting will attract hundreds of companies to compete, but Horizon Robotics chooses to do "what we believe in, but others may not be willing to jump into."
Yu Kai describes himself as an "extreme optimist" who adheres to Zen philosophy. He quoted a Zen master:
> "Many people suffer in life because they think about work when they should be sleeping, and think about sleeping when they should be working. The essence of happiness is simple — focus on work when working, and focus on sleeping when sleeping."
He uses this to explain how he can concentrate solely on Horizon Robotics: "Not too much, not too little — just do this one thing."
> "Do what you love, and love what you do — both are equally important. Many times you are not that lucky; sometimes you need to accept and adapt. Love what you are asked to do, and perhaps it will become what you truly love."
Yu Kai believes autonomous driving will fundamentally reshape urban landscapes:
Yu Kai cites the Golden Age of ancient Athens—when people freely thought, freely exchanged ideas, and created civilization—to illustrate the essence of robots:
> "The essence of robots is to return freedom and choice to humans. Humans can freely choose what to do or not to do."
He gives an example: In Beijing and Shanghai, a one-way commute often takes two hours, and you must be 100% focused on the steering wheel—"You are not the owner of the car; you are the slave of the car."
| Company | Guest View or Explicit Action | Key Basis & Data |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon Robotics | Founder & CEO; company positioned as a robotics computing platform | 1 in 3 smart vehicles in China uses its technology; ~2,000 employees; latest products are SuperDrive + Journey 6T SoC |
| BYD | Customer | One of China's major OEMs |
| Geely | Customer | One of China's major OEMs |
| Chery | Customer | One of China's major OEMs |
| Changan | Customer | One of China's major OEMs |
| Great Wall Motor | Customer | One of China's major OEMs |
| Volkswagen | Customer | Global OEM |
| Toyota | Customer | Global OEM |
| Suzuki | Customer | Global OEM |
| Mobileye | Competitor | No specific comparative data disclosed |
| Huawei | Competitor | One of the top three players in China's automotive computing market |
| Black Sesame Technologies | Competitor | Local Chinese player |
| Qualcomm | Competitor | Global technology company |
| NVIDIA | Competitor | One of the top three players in China's automotive computing market |
| Texas Instruments | Competitor | Global semiconductor company |
| Renesas | Competitor | Global semiconductor company |
| NXP | Named earlier among competitors and later discussed as a potential collaborator | Yu distinguished broad competition from synergies in analog chips and MCUs |
| Infineon | Non-competitor (synergistic) | Strength lies in analog chips and MCUs |
| STMicroelectronics | Non-competitor (synergistic) | Strength lies in analog chips and MCUs |
| Bosch | Partner | Global automotive supplier |
| XPeng | Mentioned for comparison | Used as a comparison between making cars and providing a platform; no customer or competitive relationship was specified |
| Xiaomi | Mentioned for comparison | Used as a comparison between making cars and providing a platform; no customer or competitive relationship was specified |
1. "A bad business is a good business" (Yu Kai): Businesses that require heavy investment and yield slow returns naturally create extremely high barriers, deterring most competitors. Horizon Robotics chose a "slow path," which, in China's market where "any interesting business will attract hundreds of companies to swarm in," secured a relatively scarce competitive landscape.
2. "Win the EV supply chain, win the robot supply chain" (Yu Kai): The massive scale and intense competition in the automotive business will drive all suppliers to optimize costs, performance, and size, and these achievements can be directly transferred to robotics. The pattern where winners in the smartphone supply chain later dominated the IoT business serves as a precedent.
3. "The essence of robots is to give freedom back to humans" (Yu Kai): Using the example of a two-hour commute in Beijing where "you are a slave to the car," Yu Kai argued that the ultimate significance of technological progress is not efficiency itself, but freeing people from "things they have to do" so they can think, create, and communicate—much like the golden age of ancient Athens.
4. "Live in the moment" Zen management philosophy (Yu Kai): No attendance tracking, no fixed working hours, no measurement of work hours—only caring about "how far you can go." This philosophy of "focus on work when working, focus on sleep when sleeping" is used by him to explain why the company can maintain high concentration without being led astray by competition.