Chongqing—The 2025 World Intelligent Vehicle Conference (WIV) opened on July 30 in Chongqing. Global experts and industry leaders gathered to explore how China’s auto sector is using AI and advanced tech to expand globally and turn cars into intelligent “super terminals.”
The 2025 World Intelligent Vehicle Conference (WIV) officially opened on July 30 in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, bringing together global experts, scholars, and industry leaders. (Photo/WIV)
Zhang Jianwei, a foreign academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, introduced the concept of embodied AI, arguing that vehicles and robots are key platforms for bringing AI into the real world by deeply merging algorithms with physical automotive systems.
Zhang Xinghai, Chairman of Seres, emphasized that traditional auto industry boundaries are dissolving since the automobile is now a highly integrated intelligent platform.
He added that cross-sector collaboration is becoming the norm in the face of integration. In the past, automakers sat atop a linear supply chain. Today, software-defined vehicles are reshaping the landscape, where tech, energy, and telecom companies converge with traditional OEMs to form a complex, symbiotic ecosystem.
Zhang highlighted Seres’ co-design and marketing partnership with Chinese tech giant Huawei and its in-factory collaboration mode with CATL, where battery production lines are embedded directly in the Seres assembly plant, significantly improving integration and consistency.
International players are also swiftly integrating into China’s smart vehicle ecosystem. Leng Yan, Executive Vice President of Mercedes-Benz China, noted that the company is accelerating its local operations and partnering with Tsinghua University and Tencent on joint R&D.
Despite booming growth, concerns over unhealthy competition have surfaced. The industry is facing a price war, said Chen Qingquan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. “We must compete through technology and service, not endless price cuts. Expanding internationally is a vital way to break out of this cycle.”
Zhang echoed this, stating that globalization must go beyond product exports to include industrial chains, standards, and technological capabilities. Seres vehicles are now present in over 70 countries, and a smart factory is under construction in Indonesia—part of its efforts to globalize “Intelligent Manufacturing in China.”
Unified standards are key to helping automakers enter global markets more smoothly. Shi Yushengji, Chief Engineer at the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, called for greater alignment between Chinese and international companies in areas like autonomous driving and human-machine interaction.
He said whether it’s vehicle-road-cloud integration or standalone vehicle intelligence, the end goal is the same.
Xu Kuangyi, an Academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering, called for China to take a more active role in global standards-setting. China already has mature technologies, and it’s time for it to have confidence and raise its voice on the international stage.