Xiaomi has made a key hire to deepen its push into assisted driving. Multiple sources confirmed to 36Kr that Chen Guang, formerly CTO at FAW’s Nanjing research institute, has joined Xiaomi’s electric vehicle division to lead the development of perception capabilities for assisted driving. He now reports to Ye Hangjun, Xiaomi’s head of assisted driving. Chen replaces Rui Cai, who has since moved to Xiaomi’s robotics unit.
Before joining Xiaomi, Chen was CTO at FAW’s Nanjing research institute, a subsidiary of the state-owned FAW Group. There, he oversaw the technical architecture and development of the company’s autonomous driving business and led the creation of FAW Hongqi’s third-generation Level 4 robotaxi. In recent months, FAW’s research team in Nanjing has reportedly disbanded.
Chen holds a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Missouri and has extensive experience in artificial intelligence and computer vision. He has published several papers at top-tier conferences such as the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). Before FAW, he spent years at Baidu Apollo’s R&D center, where he led the development of perception systems.
According to 36Kr, Xiaomi’s assisted driving division is now split into two main groups: one focused on end-to-end (E2E) functionality and another on exploratory research. Chen’s role centers on accelerating the implementation of E2E driving features.
Unlike traditional rule-based models, E2E systems integrate perception, prediction, planning, and control into a unified deep learning model. To support this structure, carmakers typically divide the work between dedicated teams.
In February, Xiaomi rolled out its full-scenario E2E assisted driving system to all users. This version was trained on three million video clips. The company plans to launch a more advanced model trained on ten million clips.
On the research side, Xiaomi is exploring vision-language-action (VLA) models, a rising frontier in autonomous tech. This effort is led by Long Chen, a former principal scientist at UK-based autonomous driving startup Wayve, who was personally recruited by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun. Insiders told 36Kr that Xiaomi began working on VLA tech relatively early and is roughly on par with Li Auto’s progress.
As a newcomer to EV manufacturing that only launched its first model about a year ago, Xiaomi faces a steeper climb than rivals and must invest heavily to meet industry benchmarks in assisted driving.
Still, it has steadily built up its bench of high-level technical talent. Alongside recent hires like Wang Naiyan, former CTO of TuSimple, and Long Chen from Wayve, the addition of Chen adds further depth to Xiaomi’s autonomous driving ranks.
As of now, Xiaomi’s assisted driving team has grown to around 1,200 people, according to 36Kr.
Yet hiring talent is just one piece of the puzzle. Engineering for mass production and ensuring system stability remains a time-intensive process that can’t be fast-tracked.
Li Auto’s experience highlights this challenge. Since 2023, the company has repeatedly changed its strategic direction and restructured departments, betting heavily on both E2E models and VLA before reaching its current level of progress. CEO Li Xiang once said that “skipping straight to the tenth bun is impossible,” a metaphor emphasizing the need to progress step by step, from rule-based algorithms to E2E systems, before advancing to VLA.
Xiaomi is facing similar growing pains.
Three years into its automotive venture, the company began pushing a rule-based navigate-on-autopilot (NOA) system to users in June 2024. But as the industry evolves, these systems are proving inadequate for complex urban scenarios. With limited performance ceilings, automakers are increasingly following Tesla’s lead into E2E territory.
In September 2024, Xiaomi formally established its E2E division. After six months of development, the company launched its first version this February. Despite the milestone, user feedback suggests Xiaomi still trails behind top industry players in real-world performance.
Sources told 36Kr that Xiaomi is now racing to develop its next-generation system, based on VLA models, with a possible release by year’s end.
In essence, Xiaomi is trying to compress a multiyear development curve into a much shorter timeline, aiming to leapfrog the competition the way Li Auto has in recent quarters.
But it’s doing so under intense public scrutiny. In March, a Xiaomi SU7 equipped with entry-level assisted driving was involved in a fatal highway accident in Tongling, Anhui, resulting in three deaths. The tragedy triggered a wave of backlash and thrust Xiaomi into a crisis of confidence over its autonomous driving capabilities.
Founder Lei later described it as the most difficult period since founding Xiaomi.
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Now, both Xiaomi and its assisted driving division are seeking a decisive comeback.
That burden partly falls on the company’s second vehicle, the Xiaomi YU7. At its debut event on May 22, Lei sought to reassure users by highlighting that all YU7 models come standard with full-stack assisted driving hardware.
Lei sought to reassure users by highlighting that all YU7 models come standard with full-stack assisted driving hardware.
Each unit is equipped with Nvidia’s four-nanometer Thor in-vehicle chip, which delivers 700 TOPS (tera operations per second) of computing power, along with one LiDAR sensor, one 4D millimeter-wave radar, 11 high-definition cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors.
Still, with flagship hardware and a heavyweight technical team in place, the real question is whether Xiaomi can finally demonstrate that its assisted driving program is ready to lead the pack.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Li Anqi for 36Kr.