French
DeutschHorizon Robotics
 | |
Native name | 地平线 |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| SEHK: 9660 | |
| Industry | Artificial intelligence Semiconductors |
| Founded | July 21, 2015 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Beijing, China |
Key people | Yu Kai (CEO) |
| Revenue |  CN¥2.38 billion (2024) |
| CN¥2.35 billion (2024) | |
| Total assets | CN¥20.38 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | CN¥11.91 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | 2,078 (2024) |
| Website | horizon |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
Horizon Robotics, Inc. (Chinese: 地平线; pinyin: Dìpíngxiàn) is a Chinese technology company headquartered in Beijing. The company develops artificial intelligence (AI) chips used in self-driving cars and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Background
[edit]Horizon Robotics was founded in 2015 by several former Baidu employees, including Yu Kai who previously led Baidu's self-driving car division.[2]
The company was funded by notable investors that included Intel, Hillhouse Investment, HongShan, Yuri Milner, Sinovation Ventures and Yunfeng Capital.[2][3] Other backers include BYD, Chery and CATL.[4] Due to the United States New Export Controls on Advanced Computing and Semiconductors to China, Horizon Robotics attracted more interest from investors who felt it could be an alternative to Nvidia in China which had to abide with selling restrictions.[5]
In December 2017, Horizon Robotics launched Journey 1.0, the first generation of its AI chips used in vehicles. It would help cars recognize external objects in a low power consumption manner.[6]
Originally Horizon Robotics planned to hold an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States that could raise as much as $1 billion. However, in October 2021, it was reported that it changed its IPO country to Hong Kong instead. This came at a time where the Chinese government was increasing scrutiny of overseas listings.[3]
In October 2022, Volkswagen Group invested $2.3 billion to establish a joint venture (JV) with Horizon Robotics. The JV was named Carizon and was aimed to develop in-house vehicle software for Volkswagen.[7]
At the 2023 World Internet Conference, Yu announced that the number of vehicles featuring navigate on autopilot (NoA) equipped with Horizon Robotics chips has surpassed that of Nvidia.[8] According to a report from China Money Network, Horizon Robotics controlled 49% of the Chinese self-driving chip market in 2023.[9]
In March 2024, Horizon Robotics submitted its IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange expected to raise $500 million.[4] In October 2024, the offering was priced at the top of its price range raising $696 million.[10]
In January 2025, Horizon Robotics announced its goal of shipping over 10 million chips in 2025.[11]
Products
[edit]While Horizon Robotics mainly focuses on developing AI chips used in the automobile industry, it also develops its Sunrise line of AI chips that are used in surveillance cameras and other internet-connected smart devices.[2] It holds partnerships with Chery, Audi, SAIC Motor and SK Telecom.[4]
Journey 2
[edit]The Journey 2 was released in 2019, and was the first automotive AI chip made by a Chinese company. It uses Horizon's self-developed Brain Processing Unit (BPU) 2.0 architecture, and is capable of over 4 TOPS of compute performance while consuming 2 watts of power.[12] It has a multicore CPU consisting of ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 1.5GHz, 640GB/s internal bandwidth bus, [13][14]
Journey 3
[edit]The Journey 3 was released in September 2020. It continues to use the BPU 2.0 architecture and is fabricated on TSMC's 16nm node, now providing 5TOPS while using 2.5 watts of power.[12] Applications include Li Auto One.
Journey 5
[edit]The Journey 5 uses eight ARM Cortex-A55 in its CPU for 26k DMIPS, and has a GPU capable of 128 TOPS using Horizon's Bayesian BPU architecture. Its ISP is capable of handling 16 HD cameras and supports 4x4 MIPI to support 4K cameras. It is produced on TSMC's 16nm FinFET process node.[15] It received SGS-TÜV's ISO 26262 ASIL-B automotive safety certification in June 2021.[16][17]
Journey 6
[edit]The Journey 6 generation of chips was first teased in 2023, with specs of only the top of the line 6P revealed. The full lineup of chips was announced on 25 April 2024, when more details specifications of the 6B, 6E, 6M, and 6P were revealed at the launch presentation. This generation introduces the BPU 3.0 architecture known as Nash, the use of larger ARM Cortex-78AE cores from the high-performance Cortex-A7X series which are capable of out-of-order execution, and 3D GPU visualization using ARM's Mali G78AE architecture. According to Horizon, the Nash BPU architecture was designed to handle high-parameter transformer models, and is optimized to run end-to-end architectures.[18][19] The Journey 6 series integrates the CPU, BPU, GPU, and MCU into a single SoC, increasing performance while reducing cost, power consumption, and simplifying board design.[20] This high degree of integration and hardware simplification allows the Journey 6 to act as a plug-and-play solution, allowing for easy hardware upgrades for automakers and users which Horizon compares to upgrading a desktop PC's graphics card.[21]
Journey 6B
[edit]The Journey 6B was announced on 25 April 2024 and is aimed at entry-level active safety ADAS solutions. Horizon Robotics said that the chip got orders from Tier 1 suppliers Bosch and Denso, along with NavInfo, Furuitech and Youjia Innovation.[18]
Journey 6E & 6M
[edit]The Journey 6E and 6M are positioned as cost effective solutions for highway NOA systems with some urban capabilities. It meets the AEC-Q104 standard and reduces costs and power consumption through high integration.
Initial automotive customers include SAIC, Volkswagen Group, BYD, Li Auto, GAC, Deepal, BAIC, Chery, Exeed Sterra, and Voyah, and Tier 1 customers include Bosch, Luxshare, Huaqin, and TzTek, with interest shown from Continental, Denso, Valeo, and ZF.[18]
Journey 6P
[edit]The Journey 6P is the most powerful chip design by Horizon Robotics to date, and is intended for high-end full-scenario NOA solutions. The chip contains 37 billion transistors and is fabricated on TSMC's 7nm, and contains a 18-core CPU capable of 410k DMIPS, is capable of 560 TOPS from its 4 Nash BPU cores, and uses LPDDR5x‑8533 RAM for a total of 204 GB/s of bandwidth. It has an ISP with 24 channels capable of processing 4K video or other sensors including up to 18MP front-facing cameras, mmWave radar and LiDAR data.[21]
Mass production of the 6P is expected to start in the third quarter of 2025.
| Chip | Release | CPU | NPU | NPU TOPS | CPU DMIPS | RAM | Power | Node | ISP | Cert. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Journey 2 | 2019 | Cortex-A53 | Bernoulli 1.0 | 4+ | 32-bit LPDDR4-3200; 12.8 GB/s | 1‑2W | TSMC 28nm HPC+ | 2×HD, 1×4K | — | ||
| Journey 3 | 2020 | 4×Cortex-A53 | Bernoulli 2.0 | 5 | 12k | 2.5W | TSMC 16/12nm | 6×HD, 4K | |||
| Journey 5 | 2022 | 8×Cortex-A55 | Bayesian | 96 | 25k (26k) | 20W | TSMC 16nm | 16+×HD, 2+×4K | ASIL-B | ||
| P | 128 | 30k (26k) | 30-35W | ||||||||
| Journey 6 | B | 2024 | Nash | 10+ | 20k+ | ASIL-D | |||||
| L | |||||||||||
| E | 2024 | 80 | 100k | 7nm | |||||||
| M | 128 | 137k | |||||||||
| H | |||||||||||
| P | Sept 2025 | 18×Cortex-A78AE | 4×Nash | 560 | 410k | 192-bit LPDDR5x-8533; 204 GB/s | TSMC 7nm | 24×4K; 5.3 GP/s | |||
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "2024 Annual Report" (PDF). Horizon Robotics. 2025. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
- ^ a b c Lucas, Louise (27 November 2018). "Chinese AI chipmaker Horizon Robotics raises up to $1bn". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ a b Liu, John (8 October 2021). "China Chip Firm Horizon Robotics Eyes Moving U.S. IPO to Hong Kong". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Li, Pei (11 March 2024). "Intel-Backed Horizon Picks Banks for $500 Million Hong Kong IPO". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Liao, Rita (27 September 2022). "Investors bank on China's alternatives to Nvidia's auto chips". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Si, Ma (21 December 2017). "Horizon Robotics unveils AI-tailored processor". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Shen, Jill (11 December 2023). "VW's JV to hire 300 workers with Horizon Robotics · TechNode". TechNode. Archived from the original on 26 April 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Strom, Eifeh (15 November 2023). "Horizon Robotics calls next-gen self-driving chip revolutionary". DIGITIMES. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Butts, Dylan (5 December 2023). "Chinese chip makers plan to invest billions on R&D, production in Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 1 July 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Pei, Li (23 October 2024). "Baillie Gifford, Norges Said to Invest in Horizon Robotics Hong Kong IPO". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
- ^ "China's Horizon Robotics targets 10 million automotive chips in 2025". DIGITIMES. 3 January 2025. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
- ^ a b Tang, Yvonne (30 June 2021). "Li Auto supplier Horizon Robotics to launch new self-driving chip soon". CnEVPost. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
- ^ Hui, Jonathan (22 May 2023). "AI Chips Technology Trends & Landscape (Mobile SoC, Intel, Asian AI Chips, Low-Power Inference…". Medium. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ "In the battle of three kingdoms of self-developed chips and the new battlefield of top intelligent driving, who is stronger among NIO, Xiaopeng and Li Auto?". en.eeworld.com.cn. 11 October 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
- ^ Huang, T. P. (26 November 2023). "Importance of Horizon/Journey success". TP’s Substack. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
- ^ Zheng, Dorothy (6 July 2021). "Horizon Robotics' AI chip with up to 128 TOPS computing power gets key certification". CnEVPost. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
- ^ "Autonomous Driving SoC Research Report, 2024 - ResearchInChina". www.researchinchina.com. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ a b c Xi, Wang (25 April 2024). "2024年开启量产 地平线征程6正式发布" [Mass Production to Start in 2024, Horizon Journey 6 Officially Released]. info.xcar.com.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 26 April 2025.
- ^ Huang, T. P. (27 April 2024). "Horizon Robotics unveiled Journey 6". TP’s Substack. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ Huang, T. P. (26 November 2023). "Importance of Horizon/Journey success". TP’s Substack. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Horizon Journey 6P Launched: Modular Domain Controller for Upgradable In-Vehicle Computing Platform". PCauto. 22 April 2025. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
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