When Tesla's FSD test video flooded social media platforms and Xiaomi and BYD were redefining intelligent driving for all, China's smart driving competition has entered a white-hot stage.
On February 28, GAC Toyota Deputy General Manager Peng Baolin spoke on Weibo - this joint venture, which has been deeply rooted in the Chinese market for 20 years, has taken the lead in raising the banner of "universal intelligent driving" in the joint venture camp with the "first 150,000-class laser radar intelligent driving car of the joint venture" Bozhi 3X as its fulcrum.
This is GAC Toyota's self-innovation, and also a reflection of the joint venture's efforts to catch up in the wave of intelligentization in China's automobile industry.
When new car-making forces pushed the threshold of high-end intelligent driving to the 300,000 yuan range, joint ventures have long been trapped in the vacillation of technology paths. They are unwilling to give up the right to speak in the global technology system, and it is difficult to match the iteration speed of the Chinese market. GAC Toyota's entry into the national intelligent driving track as the "first joint venture" is both courageous and implies a triple logic of breaking through.
First, the reconstruction of the right to speak in technology. The Momenta 5.0 end-to-end large model equipped in the Bozhi 3X chooses to be deeply bound with Chinese local technology companies, which breaks the "technology transfer" model commonly used by joint ventures and instead builds a new ecosystem of "Chinese R&D feeding back to the world."
Secondly, it is a disruption of the cost system. In a market environment where the price of LiDAR intelligent driving systems is generally more than 50,000 yuan, the price of models equipped with this technology is reduced to 150,000 yuan, relying on GAC Toyota's vertical integration capabilities in the supply chain.
The "lowering of profit expectations" emphasized by Peng Baolin is essentially to transform intelligent driving technology from a premium tool into a user operation entrance. This is a first in the business logic of the joint venture.
As the first product in the joint venture camp to be labeled as "intelligent driving for all", the technical path of Bozhi 3X is symbolic. Its "one-stage end-to-end large model" abandons the traditional modular architecture and achieves seamless connection between high-speed NOA and urban NOA through massive Chinese road data training. This localized development model enables the vehicle to show stronger scene adaptability than the general solutions of multinational automakers when facing China's unique "mixed traffic flow".
In addition, GAC Toyota has implanted the concept of "native intelligent driving platform" in the 150,000 yuan price range. Unlike the new forces' practice of pre-embedding hardware in exchange for OTA possibilities, the Bozhi 3X realizes the full-scenario intelligent driving function at the time of delivery through the heterogeneous fusion of laser radar and 4D millimeter wave radar. This product logic is in line with the urgent demand of mainstream consumer groups for the "de-futureization" of intelligent technology.
GAC Toyota's declaration of intelligent driving for all has pressed the start button for the intelligent transformation of joint ventures. When the Bozhi 3X introduces high-end intelligent driving into the mainstream market with the strategy of "same price for oil and electricity", it not only generates competition at the product level, but also rebuilds the traditional value system of joint ventures - from "global technology adapted to China" to "global export of Chinese solutions", and from "configuration premium" to "universal technology".
Behind this transformation is a qualitative change in the joint venture's perception and attitude towards the Chinese market. As Peng Baolin said, to understand Chinese consumers, we must not only understand their desire for intelligence, but also understand their expectations for "technological equality." While Tesla is still building a technological barrier with the FSD subscription system, GAC Toyota chose to break the privilege of intelligent driving, which may indicate that the competition in smart cars will enter a new stage of "sinking the market determines success or failure."
At the critical moment of joint venture transformation, GAC Toyota took the lead in raising the banner of national intelligent driving. This is a concentrated release of the company's 20 years of localization accumulation, and it is also the latest practice of joint venture car companies in China's smart car era that "joint ventures are not a symbol of backwardness."
