🔥36氪•Stalecollected in 24m
Qianli Zhijia CEO denies resignation rumors
💡Leadership stability in autonomous driving firms is critical for tracking progress in embodied AI development.
⚡ 30-Second TL;DR
What Changed
Chen Qi denies resignation rumors
Why It Matters
The denial stabilizes leadership at a key player in the autonomous driving sector, preventing potential disruption to their ongoing R&D projects.
What To Do Next
Track Qianli Zhijia's upcoming autonomous driving milestones to see how they compete with other embodied AI-focused firms.
Who should care:Developers & AI Engineers
Key Points
- •Chen Qi denies resignation rumors
- •Rumors suggested a move to embodied AI startup
- •CEO confirms ongoing commitment to Qianli Zhijia
🧠 Deep Insight
Web-grounded analysis with 9 cited sources.
🔑 Enhanced Key Takeaways
- •Qianli Zhijia (Intelligent Driving) is a key subsidiary of Qianli Technology, a company that transformed from the traditional manufacturing firm Lifan Technology into an AI-focused entity under the leadership of Megvii founder Yin Qi.
- •The company is actively pursuing a 'de-Geelyfication' strategy, aiming to reduce its reliance on its major shareholder and client, Geely, by planning a joint venture with BAIC Group to launch a new AI car brand named 'Pallade' (游心).
- •Chen Qi's denial of resignation on May 14, 2026, directly contradicts earlier reports from May 11, 2026, which stated he was confirmed to be leaving Qianli Zhijia (Intelligent Driving) to pursue entrepreneurship in embodied AI, and that the company's dual-CEO structure had already been dissolved in February 2026, leaving him as the sole CEO prior to his rumored departure.
- •Despite revenue growth, Qianli Technology's intelligent driving business is currently in a 'burning money' phase, with the company reporting continuous net losses in recent years and relying significantly on government subsidies to achieve reported profits.
- •To bolster its commercialization efforts, Qianli Technology appointed former Honor CEO Zhao Ming as Co-Chairman in February 2026, tasking him with accelerating market penetration and product conversion for its 'AI+Car' strategy.
🛠️ Technical Deep Dive
- Qianli Technology's 'AI+Car' strategy encompasses intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, and Robotaxi solutions.
- It utilizes an L4-level unified architecture designed to support L2++ mass-produced products, aiming to integrate L4 safety redundancy, perception accuracy, and decision-making capabilities into lower-level autonomous driving systems.
- The company is collaboratively developing 'native intelligent driving foundation large models' with Juyue Xingchen (阶跃星辰), leveraging world models and VLA (Vision-Language-Action) as core technologies.
- A key metric for their intelligence level is '含模量' (model content/reliance), which signifies a greater dependence on AI models for decision-making to enhance the intelligent driving system's capabilities.
- Their RLM (Reinforcement Learning Model) large model is designed to cover comprehensive aspects including large model training, specialized intelligent driving data training, and reinforcement learning.
- Qianli Technology has achieved significant progress in 'cabin-driving integration' with its 'super Eva+G-ASD 4.0' solution, slated for its debut in the ZEEKR 8X.
🔮 Future ImplicationsAI analysis grounded in cited sources
Qianli Technology's efforts to diversify its client base will intensify.
The planned joint venture with BAIC Group and the launch of the 'Pallade' brand demonstrate a strong strategic push to reduce dependence on Geely and secure more orders from other automakers.
The intelligent driving market will experience heightened competition and potential consolidation.
Qianli Technology's ambitious commercialization targets, aiming for 1 million vehicles equipped with its systems in 2026 and 8 million within three years, coupled with the industry's trend towards an 'elimination round,' indicate an increasingly competitive landscape.
Embodied AI will continue to attract significant talent and entrepreneurial interest.
The widespread rumors, even if denied, regarding a prominent AI executive like Chen Qi considering an embodied AI startup underscore the perceived potential and allure of this emerging field for experienced professionals.
⏳ Timeline
2024-07
Megvii founder Yin Qi's company acquires 19.91% stake in Lifan Technology, becoming the second-largest shareholder.
2024-11
Yin Qi officially assumes the role of Chairman of Lifan Technology.
2025-02
Lifan Technology officially rebrands to Qianli Technology, establishing an 'AI+Mobility' strategic direction.
2025-06
Chongqing Qianli Zhijia (Intelligent Driving) Company is formally established.
2025-08
Geely integrates its ZEEKR Intelligent Driving, Geely Research Institute, and Megvii's Mai Chi Zhixing teams into Qianli Zhijia (Intelligent Driving), with Chen Qi becoming Co-CEO.
2026-02
Former Honor CEO Zhao Ming joins Qianli Technology as Co-Chairman. Qianli Zhijia (Intelligent Driving) reportedly adjusts its organizational structure, dissolving the dual-CEO setup and retaining Chen Qi as the sole CEO.
📎 Sources (9)
Factual claims are grounded in the sources below. Forward-looking analysis is AI-generated interpretation.
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Original source: 36氪 ↗