The Beijing-based intelligent driving company, Haomo Intelligent Driving Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Haomo Intelligent Driving"), has suddenly been reported to have suspended operations.
On November 24, several sources told Blue Whale Auto reporters that Haomo Zhixing suddenly issued a "work stoppage and holiday notice" in the company's internal group on November 22, stating that based on the company's current operating situation, it was decided that all employees of the company and its branches would be suspended from work and given a holiday starting from the 24th, and the resumption time would be notified separately.
"There was only a notice, without even specifying the suspension period, salary payments, social security and housing fund contributions, or compensation methods." Several insiders told Blue Whale Auto reporters that the company still has nearly 300 employees in Beijing, Baoding, and other places, but DingTalk is no longer available for attendance tracking.
According to employees interviewed by Red Star Capital Bureau, the company's leadership offered no explanation for the notice, and the company's group chat was subsequently muted. One Beijing employee stated that the company has been two months behind on salaries, and currently no management has communicated with employees regarding subsequent compensation and arrangements.
According to Yang Ming (pseudonym), an internal employee, the work stoppage notice was issued very suddenly—the email was sent near the end of the workday on Friday. To prevent the property management from sealing off the building and preventing them from retrieving their personal belongings, many employees rushed back to the company over the weekend to pack up.
According to official information, Haomo Intelligent Mobility was founded in 2019, spun off from Great Wall Motors' Intelligent Driving Advanced Technology Department, and is a representative of China's "automaker + technology company" model of autonomous driving companies. According to Tianyancha, Haomo Intelligent Mobility has completed seven rounds of financing to date, with investors including Great Wall Motors, Shougang Fund, and Hillhouse Capital. The most recent financing was in December 2024. After tracing the shareholding structure, its actual controller is Wei Jianjun (Chairman of Great Wall Motors).
On November 29th last year, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the founding of Haomo Intelligent Mobility, its Chairman Zhang Kai and CEO Gu Weihua stated in an internal letter, "Over the years, we have achieved results, but we are also facing huge challenges. Entering 2024, the autonomous driving track remains hot, and the intelligent driving market has entered a period of fierce competition. If we are not careful, we will fall behind. Challenges will emerge one after another, and we can only rise to the challenge. All Haomo employees need to grit their teeth, work harder and harder, and put in several times more effort than others to firmly engrave the name of Haomo on the milestone of intelligent driving development."
This internal letter shows that at that time, Haomo Intelligent Driving products had been deployed in more than 20 vehicle models, and its automatic delivery vehicle, Xiaomotuo, reduced the average price of a single vehicle in the industry from hundreds of thousands of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan, delivering nearly 900,000 orders for multiple logistics scenarios.
However, it was also in November of last year that Haomo Zhixing was reported to be experiencing operational difficulties and undergoing personnel adjustments and layoffs. Subsequently, several senior executives left the company to join other companies, including the vice president of technology, vice president of product, and brand officer of Haomo Zhixing.
Some analysts say that the direct reason for the shutdown of Haomo Zhixing is that the major shareholder abandoned the strategy due to the company falling behind in the technology roadmap.
Haomo has long been betting on "high-precision maps + rule-based algorithms". Since 2023, the autonomous driving industry has shifted to "heavy perception, light map" and "end-to-end large model". Due to its reliance on high-precision maps, Haomo has been hindered in the generalization of urban NOA (Navigation Assist) scenarios and has been unable to overcome complex road conditions.
Technological lag directly led Great Wall Motors to introduce a "horse race mechanism" in its supply chain. In 2024, Great Wall Motors announced a $100 million exclusive investment in DeepRoute.com and a deep collaboration with DJI Automotive (Zoom). Currently, core new models under Great Wall Motors, such as Weipai Lanshan, have switched to using DeepRoute.com's end-to-end intelligent driving solution.
