Chinese self-driving technology firm ZYT is edging closer to mass production of semi-autonomous trucks that can improve fuel efficiency and save logistics costs, likely to benefit the country’s manufacturing businesses amid a global energy crisis.
The Shenzhen-based start-up, a spin-off from drone maker DJI, has formed partnerships with mainland China’s top six heavy-truck makers to produce models fitted with its navigation on autopilot (NOA) systems, with the first deliveries expected as early as the second half of 2026, according to ZYT’s vice-president Yu Beibei.
“Trucks, unlike passenger vehicles, are of big economic value to manufacturing and logistics companies,” she said in an interview. “They are willing to pay a premium to own and operate the lorries that prove to be more efficient.”
Initial evidence showed the trucks using ZYT’s NOA systems could save 3 per cent on fuel costs a year, according to the company.
The NOA systems are classified as either Level 2 (L2) or L2+, requiring drivers to keep their hands on the wheel at all times.
The vehicles would operate in semi-autonomous mode while plying the highways between cities, with their preliminary self-driving technologies helping them navigate their routes efficiently, yielding lower fuel consumption.
ZYT will become the first self-driving tech start-up in China to engage in large-scale production of semi-autonomous trucks.
The company competes against a clutch of domestic rivals that provide advanced driver assistance systems to vehicle assemblers and robotaxi services, including Momenta and Huawei Technologies’ self-driving unit.
Since the US-Israel war on Iran started at the end of February, crude oil prices have risen nearly 60 per cent and currently hover around US$140 per barrel.
The global oil shock has already spurred sales of electric cars and batteries for energy-storage systems, as consumers and manufacturers around the globe try to minimise the impact of the higher prices.
Autonomous driving was set to save Chinese companies about 1.8 trillion yuan (US$263.6 billion) in annual labour costs by 2030 as thousands of trucks become driverless, UBS analyst Xu Bin predicted in 2022. To enhance efficiency in the manufacturing sector, Beijing has been striving to slash logistics costs to boost manufacturing companies’ profitability.
During the Auto China show in Beijing, which ended on Sunday, ZYT announced it had signed an agreement with Yutong, one of the mainland’s largest commercial bus makers, to jointly develop intelligent driving technologies, with production of semi-autonomous models expected to start in September.
ZYT is targeting a Hong Kong share listing as early as 2027, CEO Shen Shaojie said early this year.
Late last year, state-owned carmaker FAW Group bought a 35.8 per cent stake in ZYT from DJI, becoming the start-up’s single largest shareholder. DJI retains a 34.9 per cent stake.
ZYT’s Yu said passenger vehicles remained ZYT’s core business, but added that the technologies it developed could “spill over” to buses and trucks.
Quickening its pace of developing mass production capabilities, ZYT also unveiled its multimodal foundation model designed for mobile physical artificial intelligence at the Beijing show.
During the training phase, the model incorporated not only intelligent driving data but also internet data and various types of mobile robotics data, according to Yu.
The model could function and adapt effectively through simple activation when it was applied to different regions, she added.
Nearly all major carmakers in China are now actively developing cars with “hands-off” self-driving features to gain an edge in the cutthroat market.
In December, Beijing gave the first carmakers the go-ahead to build electric vehicles with L3 autonomous driving capability. An L3 autonomous vehicle can operate independently under predefined conditions, although the driver must remain ready at all times to take control if required.
