Zeekr joins China’s autonomous-driving race with plans to unveil tech at Shanghai car show

Chinese carmaker Zeekr Intelligent Technology, which is controlled by Geely Auto, has joined the autonomous-driving bandwagon, after completing a merger with its sister brand Lynk.

The development comes after BYD, the world’s No 1 electric vehicle (EV) maker, said this week that it would offer an autopilot system in all its cars, ­making autonomous driving affordable for all Chinese ­customers.

New York-listed Zeekr said on Friday that its in-house developed level 3 (L3) self-driving technology would debut at the Shanghai Auto Show in April.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

“The L3 architecture will come to fruition soon,” CEO An Conghui said in a letter to Zeekr employees. The next-generation technology would be superior to existing ones in terms of computing power, structure, performance and safety, he added.

An Conghui pictured in March 2017. The Zeekr CEO says the company’s autonomous driving system would be vastly superior to its rivals. Photo: Jonathan Wong alt=An Conghui pictured in March 2017. The Zeekr CEO says the company’s autonomous driving system would be vastly superior to its rivals. Photo: Jonathan Wong>

An’s remarks came after Zeekr officially completed the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Lynk, another premium EV brand under Geely, mainland China’s second-largest automotive group in terms of sales.

The merged units were now operating under a fully integrated ecosystem, according to a filing to the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

L3 is considered a “hands-off” system, but still requires drivers to be alert and ready to take over, while L4 allows drivers to take their eyes off the road, according to standards set by US-based SAE International.

In China, most intelligent vehicles are classified as L2 or L2+, which stipulate that the driver must be alert and ready to take control of the car at any time.

An said that the company would start taking orders for the Lynk 900 six-seater SUV from the second quarter. The Lynk 900 was the first car globally to use Nvidia’s next-generation Thor chip, which was designed to combine advanced driver assistance and an artificial intelligence-powered cockpit, he added.

Zeekr cars are priced at about 300,000 yuan (US$41,120), while the Lynk brand ranges around the 200,000 yuan mark.

Lynk has set a full-year sales goal of 390,000 units, an increase of nearly 37 per cent from 2024, while Zeekr is eyeing a 44 per cent jump in deliveries to 320,000 units.

On Monday, BYD said at least 21 models, including the Seagull hatchback that starts from 69,800 yuan, would be fitted with its indigenous advanced driver assistance system, which enables cars to navigate on highways and conduct self-parking.

“Though Zeekr does not go head to head with BYD, its stepped-up efforts to develop more autonomous and intelligent cars will lead to a new battle among Chinese carmakers to increase R&D spending,” said Chen Jinzhu, CEO of Shanghai Mingliang Auto Service, a consultancy. “Small players will face mounting pressure after other top carmakers announce plans to build more smart EVs.”

Two out of three new cars, or 15 million units, sold on the mainland in 2025 will have L2 or higher autonomous-driving capability, according to Zhang Yongwei, general secretary of China EV100, a non-governmental organisation that counts most of the nation’s top EV executives as members.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.