Zhijia Technology's new financing is 65.438 billion US dollars, and Tucson will grab the first share of automatic driving of heavy trucks in the future!

The financing tide of autonomous driving once again blows to heavy truck autonomous driving.

According to Che Zhijun's information, Zhijia Technology, a start-up company of heavy truck autopilot, is completing a new round of financing, with a total financing of 654.38 billion US dollars. At present, it has obtained 60 million US dollars. Investors include Guotai Junan International and Hedosophia, and old shareholders have followed suit, planning to conduct an IPO in early 2026.5438+0!

This is another financing of 1 billion dollars in the field of heavy truck autonomous driving after 10/.65438 announced a new round of financing of 65.438 dollars+200 million dollars led by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. According to industry information, Tucson will complete a new round of billion-dollar financing in the future, and as early as July, Tucson announced that it would conduct an IPO within 1 year. ?

The automatic driving field of heavy trucks, like the automatic driving field of passenger cars, has been continuously supported by capital, entered the IPO battle faster than passenger cars, and landed in the secondary market first, just like Wei Lai grabbed the first share of China's new car-making forces. The attributes of listed companies also provide various channels for the company's follow-up financing.

It is worth mentioning that more and more passenger car autopilot companies are trying or have cut into the field of heavy truck autopilot. Waymo, a global autonomous driving company, took the lead and announced the launch of Waymo, a RoboTaxi business, in March 2020. A parallel RoboTruck service Waymo? VIA, and in June 5438+00, announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Daimler in the field of automatic driving of heavy trucks, aiming at realizing automatic driving of heavy trucks. Since then, companies such as Aurora and Pony have also announced that they are conducting automatic driving tests for heavy trucks.

Why can the field of heavy truck autopilot continue to be blessed by capital, and more and more passenger car autopilot companies are beginning to enter the field of heavy truck autopilot? This is closely related to the market scale of heavy truck autopilot as a passenger car and its faster commercialization expectation, which is also one of the reasons why heavy truck autopilot seeks IPO at present.

For many entrepreneurs, IPO is an important milestone, but it is far from over. Listing is just a new beginning, and it needs to create value for investors in the secondary market. Then the problem is coming. Tucson Future and Zhijia Technology, two companies that are sprinting for the first share of heavy truck autopilot, which one is more likely to win the top spot?

0 1? What to fight for the first share of autonomous driving?

Autopilot should be commercialized on a large scale. It is generally recognized in the industry that the algorithm company provides the autopilot algorithm, the OEM of the main engine factory provides the vehicle hardware platform, and the scene side provides the commercial application scenario. Only by combining the three, it is possible to commercialize autonomous driving, the most attractive destructive innovation technology of human beings in the past 100 years.

For an autonomous driving startup company, being good at autonomous driving algorithms requires cooperation with the OEM and the scene, so that it is possible to make a breakthrough in commercialization and bring large-scale and sustainable commercial orders. ?

At present, in the field of automatic driving of heavy trucks, we are competing for the first share of Zhijia Technology and Tucson in the future. Compare the above commercialization ideas of autonomous driving and see how the two companies choose partners. ?

In terms of OEM cooperation, in China, Zhijia Technology reached a strategic cooperation with faw liberation War, the largest heavy truck seller in China with a market share of over 30%, and established a joint venture company-Suzhou Zhitu, aiming at mass production of self-driving heavy trucks. In 20021year, mass production of L3 self-driving heavy trucks began, and mass production of L4 self-driving heavy trucks began in 2023. According to the liberation plan, it is hoped that in 2022. In the United States, Zhijia Technology has also signed strategic cooperation agreements with Paccar and Navistar.

Tucson will form strategic cooperation with American truck company Navistar and Volkswagen's truck company TRATON in the future. The cooperation goal with Navistar is also aimed at the mass production of L4 self-driving heavy trucks in 2024. But in the China market, Tucson doesn't seem to establish a similar cooperative relationship with any OEM in the future. In fact, Tucson shifted its development focus to the United States and recruited a large number of American employees.

In terms of scene cooperation, in China, Zhijia Technology obtained a strategic investment from Manbang Group (a super unicorn company with a valuation of US$ 654.38+0 billion and a financing of US$ 654.38+0.7 billion), and the two sides also reached an exclusive strategic cooperation relationship in the field of autonomous driving and started trial operation. In addition, Zhijia has also formed a strategic partnership with Suning Logistics. And carry out the trial operation of L4-class self-driving heavy truck from warehouse to warehouse. In the United States, Zhijia Technology will officially announce similar cooperation.

In terms of scene cooperation, Tucson will choose to build its own freight network platform in the future, and officially announce the launch of "the world's first self-driving freight network" in the United States. This self-driving freight network is provided by robot drivers, which is similar to the freight version of Didi Platform.

I saw the above actions of Zhijia Technology and Tucson in the process of commercialization in the future. It depends on the final landing. In the direction of mass production of self-driving heavy trucks, it is best to mass-produce L3 models before the arrival of L4, which will bring a certain scale of income and provide a platform for data collection iteration to realize L4.

0 1? How to take the IPO road?

If a company wants an IPO, the progress at the business level is the foundation, and it depends on the underwriters and traders of the IPO.

According to what? According to some data, Zhijia Technology has hired Goldman Sachs, one of the top investment banks in the world, and is looking for a special purpose acquisition company (special purpose acquisition company) that can be acquired. It is planned to be completed at the beginning of 20021,so as to realize the IPO. In addition, the company has been considering an IPO in China. This can be seen from the investors in this round of Zhijia Technology.

In recent years, more and more companies have completed the listing in the US capital market through the merger of special purpose acquisition companies, including the originator of the recently listed laser radar, Verdun, and the American fuel cell heavy truck company, Nikola (known as the second LeTV because of the fraud). By 2020, hundreds of mergers and acquisitions have been completed, which is one of the reasons why Zhijia seeks to go public in the United States by acquiring special purpose acquisition companies. ?

This round of investors of Zhijia Technology includes Guotai Junan International and Hedosophia. Hedosophia is good at completing the listing of investment projects by acquiring special purpose acquisition companies. In September, 2020, Hedosophia secretly submitted to the SEC a plan to raise $500 million for its latest special purpose acquisition company, which was the fourth special purpose acquisition company acquisition plan of Hedosophia during the year. ?

As for Guotai Junan International, a private equity investment department with brokerage background, it pays more attention to the national strategic development needs in investment, which can be seen from its being the earliest investor of Weineng Battery Assets Company. As one of the supporting directions of the policy, Guotai Junan International has jointly invested in Weineng with Weilai and Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd..

The self-driving heavy truck applied to trunk logistics developed by Zhijia Technology is one of the applications of artificial intelligence in the transportation field, and it is also one of the directions for China to promote transportation power, new infrastructure and automatic driving. Obviously, these areas are the key areas of Guotai Junan International's attention and investment, and the continuous successful entrepreneurial experience of Zhijia Technology Team is also one of the reasons for Guotai Junan International's efforts.

As for the IPO of Zhijia Technology in China, relying on Guotai Junan, one of the largest brokers in China, it can also help Zhijia Technology to list on A shares or Hong Kong stocks in the future. For example, you can seek to be listed on the science and technology innovation board and become the first share of heavy truck automatic driving on the science and technology innovation board. Scarce investment targets are also worth looking forward to.

In July, 2020, there is only one condition for Tucson's future publicity from IPO, that is, business, which is also the direction of Tucson's future efforts. Besides business, will Tucson hire Morgan in the future? Stanley provided services to complete a new round of financing. According to industry sources, a new round of financing was led by Steve? Gilsky, Steve's last trader was Nicholas's listing.

Because Tucson did not move much in China, Che Zhijun's information was relatively small. After all, the epidemic in the United States is too serious, and the information flow is relatively blocked. I hope to see more good news about Tucson in the future. In the future, whether Tucson is listed first or Zhijia Technology is listed first, whether it is listed in China or listed in the United States, the field of heavy truck autopilot will usher in new development.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.