On October 20, 2026, the 2026 Chery Global Innovation Conference, themed "Change," kicked off at the Chery Global Technology Innovation Center in Wuhu. As Chery's annual technology show, this conference officially released the Yaoguang 2035 strategic panorama and a batch of AI, chip, and mobility technology achievements, marking Chery's comprehensive transformation from a traditional automaker to an AI-driven global intelligent technology company, and also a concentrated showcase of Chinese automakers advancing toward underlying technologies and cross-domain ecosystems.
【2026 Chery Global Innovation Conference kicks off in Wuhu】
The global automotive industry is currently at a critical juncture in the leap from electrification to intelligence, and competition among leading automakers has extended from单一 product comparisons to contests over underlying technologies and ecosystem layout. As one of the earliest Chinese automakers to initiate AI technology R&D, Chery has accumulated more than 20 years of technology. Unlike most companies that confine AI to in-vehicle scenarios such as cockpits and intelligent driving, Chery chooses to use the automotive industry as its core fulcrum, reusing AI technology across robotics, low-altitude mobility, energy, agriculture, and other fields, gradually building a cross-industry high-tech industrial ecosystem cluster.
Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., said on site that a leader told him that Chery's cars are increasingly unlike cars, and Chery is increasingly unlike an automaker. In response, he said: "Chery is a high-tech innovation company wearing the vest of an automaker."
According to the Yaoguang 2035 strategic plan, Chery's industrial ecosystem in the future will have five core characteristics: full-lifecycle electrification, highly collaborative intelligence, brand upward movement with a global perspective, deeply integrated internationalization, and open and symbiotic ecosystemization.
Actively embracing AI to build a high-tech industrial ecosystem cluster
Against the backdrop of the automotive industry's intelligent transformation, spilling over the electronic and electrical architecture, perception, and AI capabilities accumulated from whole vehicles into robotics, low-altitude mobility, and agricultural equipment is becoming a common choice among leading automakers. Chery says its AI R&D has lasted more than 20 years, and with automobiles as the cornerstone, it has reused related technologies in scenarios such as the Mojia humanoid robot, Robotaxi, eVTOL, energy, and agricultural machinery. Whether this "vehicle-as-core, horizontal expansion" approach can translate into sustained commercialization returns still depends on the implementation pace and input-output of each business.
【Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., delivers a speech】
Yin Tongyue also emphasized: AI is becoming an intellectual lever capable of self-evolution and self-growth, redefining not only production methods but also, expanding, and blurring corporate boundaries and business models. In his view, this round of change will make some jobs and industries disappear, but it will also bring new opportunities. Therefore, he required Chery to "turn the blade inward and proactively use AI to reorganize its own genes! First change ourselves, then change the world!"
Reconstructing technological boundaries to create maximum value for human freedom
From fuel to new energy, from machinery to AI, the endpoint of technological iteration is always to satisfy people's mobility and living needs, which also constitutes the main line of the Yaoguang 2035 strategy. At this year's innovation conference, the technical team led by Dr. Gao Xinhua released a strategic technology report centered on "1 technology foundation, 4 freedoms." It is worth noting that the narrative framework of "technology foundation + scenario freedom" is highly similar to the 2030/2035 intelligent visions proposed by several domestic automakers in recent years, reflecting the industry's consensus on the "software-defined, AI-native" route.
Dr. Gao Xinhua released CheryMind, a vertical foundational large model for physical AI, positioned as the core engine supporting R&D and product intelligence. At the same time, Chery released its self-developed "Ziwei" chip series (C/S/M), covering automotive-grade computing, power, and control systems. Official data shows that the Ziwei S1500 SiC chip has a maximum efficiency of 99.6% and tolerates temperatures up to 200°C; the Ziwei C100 is an automotive-grade edge-side chip adopting a multi-core heterogeneous architecture and oriented toward deployment of hundred-billion-parameter-level models. Self-developed large models and chips are becoming mainstream moves for Chinese automakers to build software-hardware synergy and ensure supply chain security; however, benchmarked against international giants, domestic automotive-grade chips are still in a catch-up stage in terms of ecosystem maturity and mass-production reliability.
【Dr. Gao Xinhua, Executive Vice President and CTO of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., delivers a report】
【CheryMind—a vertical foundational large model born for physical AI】
On top of the CheryMind technology foundation, four doctors—Hu Weilong, Gu Chunshan, Han Wei, and Xia Peng—released innovation achievements in four dimensions: mobility, energy, food, and life, corresponding to Chery's "4 freedoms" framework. Mobility dimension: debuting the All-Dimensional World Engine AWE and showcasing a natively front-installed Robotaxi agent (supporting L4-level unmanned driving, but still in the demonstration operation and regulatory adaptation stage); China's first fully independent compound-wing manned eVTOL agent, officially claimed to have a flight speed of 120 km/h and a range of more than 1 hour, though commercial passenger operations still require completion of airworthiness certification. Energy dimension: the Xunlong instant charging developed with CATL claims to add about 500 km of range in 5 minutes of charging (corresponding to an extremely high rate, with actual performance depending on charger-side and battery conditions); superconducting charging enables full-scenario energy replenishment; Chery says it has achieved the industry's first commercial AC V2G, allowing vehicles to participate in grid peak-valley regulation. Food dimension: the pure electric agricultural machinery agent is officially claimed to reduce energy cost by 74%, covering plowing, sowing, management, harvesting, and transportation. Life dimension: a service matrix composed of robots for traffic police, medical guidance, child companionship, and other functions, covering public and livelihood scenarios.
Talent and scenarios: two-way support for technology implementation
The long-term competitiveness of technology R&D is inseparable from the advance layout of talent and basic research.
【The "2050 Future Academy" is officially unveiled】
Following the establishment of the "USTC-Kaiyang Automotive Advanced Technology Joint Laboratory" in March 2025, Chery's cooperation with the University of Science and Technology of China has deepened once again. At the conference site, Chery and USTC jointly unveiled the "2050 Future Academy," further deepening their cooperation from a joint laboratory to the level of talent cultivation. The academy will focus on frontier technology R&D and the cultivation of interdisciplinary innovative talent, connecting the chain from "0 to 1" in basic research to "1 to 100" in industrial implementation. Against the backdrop of increasingly fierce competition for high-end talent in the automotive industry, deeply binding university resources and reserving talent in advance have become core paths for automakers to build long-term technological barriers.
Let life return to life: immersive experience of the future city
To let technological achievements land from parameters into perceivable real experiences, this conference simultaneously created an immersive "Future City" real-scene experience space, integrating technological achievements such as Robotaxi, eVTOL, V2G energy replenishment, intelligent agricultural machinery, and service robots into daily life scenarios.
【On-site visitors interact with a robot dog in the Future City】
Visitors can experience forms such as unmanned mobility, seamless energy replenishment, AI medical services, and intelligent agricultural machinery, intuitively feeling technology's transformation of daily scenarios. This scenario-based display logic also reflects the implementation orientation of Chery's technology R&D—not aiming at parameter showmanship, but at solving pain points in real scenarios.
Conclusion:
In 2027, Chery will usher in its 30th anniversary. At the end of the speech, Yin Tongyue said: many companies fall before the age of 30; some companies, around the age of 30, have delivered works that changed the world. At 30, it can be the beginning of aging, or the eve of an innovation explosion.
For Chery, which is about to reach "thirty and stand firm," this innovation conference clearly conveys Chery's intention to extend from vehicle manufacturing to an AI-driven technology company, and also fills us with imagination about a technological vision linking mobility, energy, food, and life through AI.
