Xiaomi’s smart electric vehicle business has progressed faster than expected since the company revealed ambitions to produce the automobile in March 2021, according to the company’s announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The size of the automotive business R&D team has now exceeded 1,000 people.
The future will see further expansion of R&D in core areas such as autonomous driving, smart cockpits, and so on. The introduction of mass manufacturing is scheduled in the first half of 2024.
The initial investment of Xiaomi Automobile business was 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion), and Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Technology, personally serves as the CEO of Xiaomi Automobile, so as to ensure the interconnection between Xiaomi’s smartphone ecosystem and its automobile business.
In order to lay out the vehicle production chain, Xiaomi has invested in over 40 projects from last year, totalling up to 16.8 billion yuan ($2.64 billion), covering intelligent hardware, life consumption, entertainment and health, automobile transportation, and finance.
Now, Xiaomi is looking for new business opportunities. Focusing on the new energy vehicle business is a big bet for Xiaomi, but it’s also very essential for Xiaomi’s AloT (AI + IoT) extension.
