ZYT, a Chinese autonomous driving start-up that originated as a spin-off from drone maker DJI, says the artificial intelligence system it is preparing to unveil already outperforms its chief executive on busy Shenzhen streets. The company plans to present what it calls a "mobility foundation model" at the Beijing auto show in April.
ZYT’s CEO, Shen Shaojie, 39, described the system as a cost-focused break from conventional approaches to building and training autonomous driving stacks. Instead of assembling distinct modules to detect other vehicles, pedestrians or traffic signals and tuning those modules to the traffic patterns and geography of a specific market, Shen said the foundation model learns how to drive on its own from diverse video inputs.
Shen explained that the AI was trained not only on conventional road-driving video but also on footage captured by drones, robots, household vacuum cleaners, motorcycles and even people carrying moving cameras. He said that breadth of visual input enables the model to operate across vehicle types and different geographies in ways that systems tuned for particular road environments cannot.
The start-up sees additional potential beyond passenger vehicles. Shen said the model’s capabilities could make it useful for guiding future autonomous robots or other moving devices, an extension of its multimodal training approach.
The technology rollout comes amid a national push in China to integrate AI across many sectors under a policy drive to develop "new productive forces." That program is framed as a strategic effort to counter external constraints on sensitive technologies that have both civilian and potential military uses, according to the context in which the company is operating.
ZYT is entering a market where major global and Chinese players are racing to commercialize AI-enabled driving systems. Competitors cited by the company include Tesla, Xpeng, Huawei’s smart driving unit and Momenta. DJI, which retains an ownership stake in ZYT through an affiliate, has been under U.S. sanctions that U.S. agencies attribute to national security concerns.
Shen emphasized the speed of competition in the sector, noting that even a six-month lead can be meaningful. ZYT is building commercial partnerships and has been expanding into the trucking market, where Shen said the financial case for advanced driving systems is immediately clearer because of direct operational savings.
On the trucking front, Shen said ZYT has agreements with five of the six largest Chinese truck manufacturers, a group that he said commands more than 98% of the domestic market. In January, ZYT announced plans to develop highway-based autonomous truck driving systems with three truck makers - XCMG, SHACMAN and SINOTRUK - in the first half of the year.
Shen added that ZYT adapted a model trained on passenger car data for heavy-duty trucks in roughly six weeks. He said the truck application can produce "low single-digit (percentage) savings" on fuel, an example of how the system can deliver cost reductions for commercial fleets.
FAW Group, a state-owned automaker, became a major investor in ZYT late last year, acquiring a 35.8% stake from New Territory, a holding company linked to DJI. According to Shen, New Territory retains a 34.85% ownership interest while FAW now holds the largest stake in ZYT. Shen said the transaction would address compliance concerns for customers outside China because ZYT was no longer majority owned by the drone maker.
ZYT is targeting a Hong Kong initial public offering as early as 2027, Shen said, aiming to capitalise on its commercial partnerships and the recent investment by FAW. "The potential quickest is somewhere sometime 2027," he said.
Shen recounted a personal test drive that highlighted the system’s performance. He said the AI already navigated narrow roads with oncoming traffic and children near schools in Shenzhen, and that during the test he was told by his engineers, "We don’t know what the car is thinking," an observation that underlined the model’s autonomous decision-making operating within its own internal processes.
Technical challenges remain. The foundation model currently runs on expensive, high-powered computing hardware similar to that used in robotaxis and prototype systems, rather than on the lower-cost chips found in mass-market vehicles. ZYT is working to compress the model to operate on more affordable automotive-grade chips, a process Shen described as "still ongoing." The company expects the first passenger car equipped with its system to appear in 2027.
VW, working in China with FAW, was reported to be ZYT’s first customer. The company has also established an engineering and compliance presence near Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg headquarters, where it has been testing a prototype from FAW’s Hongqi brand on European roads. Shen said the United States is not on ZYT’s roadmap at present. "We will keep ourselves away from the market at this moment," he said, adding, "The rest of the world is already picking up."
Summary
ZYT says its new multimodal AI driving system, trained on a wide array of video sources, already outperforms its CEO on Shenzhen streets. The company is adapting the model for heavy trucks and passenger cars, has secured a major investment from FAW, and aims for a Hong Kong listing possibly in 2027 while working to make the technology compatible with lower-cost automotive chips.
Key points
- ZYT’s foundation model is trained on diverse video inputs - including drones, robots, vacuums and handheld cameras - enabling cross-vehicle and cross-geography operation.
- The start-up has partnerships covering five of China’s six largest truck manufacturers and plans highway truck driving systems with XCMG, SHACMAN and SINOTRUK in the first half of the year; the model’s truck adaptation took about six weeks.
- State-owned FAW Group purchased a 35.8% stake from a DJI-linked holding company, positioning FAW as the largest shareholder and supporting ZYT’s plan for a potential Hong Kong listing by 2027.
Risks and uncertainties
- Hardware constraints - The foundation model currently requires high-powered, costly computing hardware and ZYT is still working on compressing the model to run on cheaper mass-market automotive chips, creating technical and cost risks for large-scale deployment.
- Market and competitive pressures - ZYT faces fast-moving competition from established and emerging players developing AI-driven systems, including Tesla, Xpeng, Huawei’s smart driving unit and Momenta, which may erode early advantages.
- Regulatory and ownership considerations - DJI’s continuing ownership through affiliates and the recent FAW investment affect compliance perceptions for customers outside China; the company says the FAW transaction addresses some of those issues but regulatory dynamics remain a potential uncertainty.