BEIJING, February 16 (TMTPOST)— One of emerging Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers that present the major threat to Tesla’s position in the key market may lose a technology leader who joined in less than two years ago.
Source: Visual China
Wang Kai, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Li Auto Inc., will soon step down and the businesses he took in charge of, such as autonomous driving, EREV (extended range EV) platforms and the company’s real-time operating system LiOS, has been transferred to Ma Donghui, the company’s cofounder and general engineer, following a reorganization in late January, Chinese tech news media outlet 36Kr learned from many people familiar with the matter. Under the new structure’s business report procedure, Ma became the CTO effectively as he is now responsible for the overall advanced technology R&D in the intelligent vehicles, including the vehicle body, electric power, intelligent cockpit, autonomous driving, electronic and electrical architecture, platform development and Li OS, “Wang Kai has seldom been in charge of any business,” an insider told 36Kr. The media also cited a source that Wang has taken a leave and returned Germany in the first half of last year
Li Auto declined to comment on the news. With about 20 years of experience in research and development and management of core technologies in automotive and mobile phone industries, Wang is a world-renowned expert in the field of automotive electronic and electrical architecture, domain controller, intelligent and connected automotive technologies, and autonomous driving. Prior to be appointed as CTO at Li Auto in September, 2020, Wang worked for Visteon Corporation, an automotive electronics supplier in Germany, for eight years. If the news is accurate, Wang would be the employee with the highest position at management who leaves Li Auto in its almost seven years’ history.
Wang"s possible departure came as Li Auto stepped up launching the new products. At the third quarter earning conference call in last November, Li Auto confirmed X01, its second model and the first product built on the X platform, equipped with the next generation of EREV powertrain system, is set to release in the second quarter of this year and start delivery in the next quarter. And it planned to launch two more SUV models on that platform.
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