Haomo.ai, the driving assistance technology company backed by Great Wall Motor (GWM), has abruptly halted operations after instructing all employees to stop reporting to work starting November 24, according to internal notices shared by staff with Chinese media.
In a message circulated on November 22, the company told employees to cease work and await further instructions. The notice did not specify compensation arrangements or indicate whether operations would resume.
Employees told outlets including Jiemian News that attendance tracking on DingTalk was disabled and internal group chats were muted shortly after the announcement. Workers in Beijing also reported that salaries have been delayed for two months, with no communication from senior leadership about settlement plans or next steps.
GWM, Haomo.ai’s controlling shareholder, has not commented publicly. The shutdown caps a year of escalating instability marked by layoffs, frozen projects, and the departure of multiple executives.
Haomo.ai reportedly cut 30–50% of staff in late 2024 across both corporate and technical functions. The chairman and several vice presidents overseeing technology and product also left over the past year. By mid-2025, leadership churn had already raised concerns about the company’s ability to deliver on its roadmap.
Those concerns widened as Haomo.ai repeatedly delayed its urban NOA (navigate-on-autopilot) program. The system had initially been slated for rollout across multiple GWM models in 2022 and 2023, but delivery targets slipped repeatedly. Earlier this year, insiders told media that even limited features scheduled for August deployment on two Hyundai models were at risk.
A key challenge was Haomo.ai’s adherence to a technology stack built on high-definition maps and rules-based algorithms. As competitors shifted toward end-to-end perception models and map-lite or mapless architectures, analysts and employees said Haomo.ai struggled to keep pace.
As the company fell behind, GWM shifted advanced driving programs to Momenta in 2024. DJI provided solutions for midtier and entry-level models under the Haval and Ora brands. Haomo.ai’s remaining passenger vehicle business narrowed to the two Hyundai programs, while its previously promoted last-mile delivery robot line contracted sharply, with no new models under development and operations focused on clearing inventory.
Several of the company’s expansion projects were also suspended, including its planned domain controller factory in Zhejiang and a robotics plant in Chengdu.
Across multiple fundraising rounds, Haomo.ai raised several billion RMB and reached a valuation above USD 1 billion at its peak. But by late 2024 and into 2025, salary delays, shrinking activity, and headcount cuts pointed to mounting financial strain. Its push for a Hong Kong IPO was also reported to have stalled, despite earlier public statements that preparations continued.
Signs of deeper structural pressure had emerged months earlier, including weak commercialization across its two core business lines and a sharply reduced sales target for delivery robots. GWM’s rapid expansion of its internal smart driving R&D, and its investment in Pony.ai’s end-to-end foundation model, further reduced Haomo.ai’s strategic relevance within the parent company’s ecosystem.
Once a unicorn backed by one of China’s largest automakers, Haomo.ai now faces an uncertain future. For remaining employees, the sudden shutdown offers little clarity and few signs that operations will resume.