Tesla’s China rival Zeekr to roll out free advanced driver assistance

BEIJING — Chinese electric car company Zeekr is releasing advanced driver-assistance capabilities to its local customers for free as competition heats up, Zeekr CEO Andy An told CNBC ahead of a launch event Tuesday.

The tech enables the car to drive nearly autonomously from one pre-set destination to another, as long as drivers keep their hands on the steering wheel and there is regulatory approval — which is increasingly the case in most major Chinese cities.

It’s the latest Chinese electric vehicle brand to upgrade its driver-assistance products as Tesla tries to attract more buyers of its own version, called Full Self Driving, in China.

After initial criticism that the 64,000 yuan ($8,850) software was too expensive, some Chinese social media users said Monday that Tesla was offering some users the driver-assistance system for free through April 16. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zeekr’s version will be free, rolled out to a pilot group initially and then released to the public in April, according to the company.

“Right now, in this period of development, I think subscriptions aren’t that meaningful,” CEO An said in an interview Friday, according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.

Given intense competition, he said, Zeekr needs to close the gap on driver assistance with market leaders and become a top player. “So we need to bear some cost,” An said, noting Zeekr previously only offered more basic driver-assistance capabilities, such as for parking.

Zeekr, which is listed in the U.S., is scheduled to release quarterly earnings on Thursday ahead of the U.S. market open. Shares are up about 6% year-to-date.

CEO An said that Zeekr’s driver-assistance system uses two Nvidia Orin X chipsets and one lidar, or a light detection and ranging unit that allows a vehicle to navigate roads without relying too much on sunlight conditions.

He said a forthcoming version of the system will use Nvidia’s more advanced Thor automotive chip, one long-range lidar and four shorter-range lidar units.

“Using lidar may increase cost, but this reflects how much we value safety,” An said. He said the driver-assistance system for Zeekr cars sold overseas will not use the Nvidia chips for now, given different regulations and local market demand.

Zeekr’s driver-assistance system will also be used for fellow EV brand Lynk & Co.’s cars, An said, and potentially vehicles from parent company Geely. Zeekr officially acquired Lynk & Co. this year.

Sales of Nvidia’s “self-driving platforms” helped drive the chipmaker’s revenue from automotive and robotics to a record $570 million in the fourth quarter of the 2025 fiscal year.

Also reflecting market demand, major lidar producer Hesai said this month that its lidar shipments have more than doubled annually for four straight years as of 2024.

Hesai’s CFO Andrew Fan told CNBC last week that the company expects significant growth in advanced driver-assistance systems this year from last year, and noted an industry joke that China’s electric car market has shifted from a price war to a war over driver assistance.

Over the last two years, the technology has increasingly become a selling point for new energy vehicles in China, which include battery-only and hybrid-powered cars.

NEV giant BYD in February announced it was rolling out driver-assist capabilities to more than 20 of its car models. While current features mostly focus on parking and highway navigation, the company said an upgrade with point-to-point driver assistance would likely be issued by the end of 2025.

The most basic version of BYD’s driver-assistance system uses Horizon Robotics’ chipset along with Nvidia’s Orin, while more advanced versions only use other Nvidia chips, according to Nomura’s research.

Chinese EV startup Xpeng, another Nvidia customer which made advanced driver assistance an early selling point, has delivered more than 30,000 cars a month since November, thanks in part to its new P7+ car that also did away with requiring additional subscriptions for driver assistance.

Nio has advertised subscriptions for its driver-assistance features but has yet to charge users for them, according to the company.