Automotive AI Chip Vendor Horizon Robotics Raised $400 million in C2 funding

Horizon Robotics, a Chinese automotive AI chip start-up that is developing specialized chips for autonomous vehicles, has raised another $400 million in its latest C2 round of funding. The latest $400 million investment was jointly led by Baillie Gifford, Yunfeng Fund, CPE, and CATL, a Chinese battery maker, according to an announcement by the company. The goal of complete $700 million Series C funding round is to accelerate the development and commercialization of a new generation of chips for use in Level 4 (high automation) and Level 5 (full automation) and to build an open and successful partner ecosystem, according to the company. Horizon Robotics says it is the world's first automotive smart chip start-up company based on deep learning technology, and it claims to have achieved mass production of automotive-grade smart chips covering Level 2 (partial automation) or Level 3 (conditional automation). Horizon Robotics plans to launch the industry's flagship Journey 5 chip for Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving in the first half of 2021. Following that, Journey 6 chips will be more powerful by using a car-grade 7nm process, and artificial intelligence computing power will exceed 400 TOPS.