Germany’s federal president inspected the state of Sino-German automotive technology in person on 27 October, and the object of inspection was a driver-assistance stack built by a Chinese chip company.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife visited Volkswagen Group China Technology in Hefei during a state visit to China. Horizon Robotics founder and chief executive Yu Kai attended and briefed the delegation on the company’s work with Volkswagen on intelligent driving.
https://robotbelt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/12_0-2.pngThe two cars
The delegation was shown two models, the FAW-Volkswagen ID.AURA T6 and the SAIC Volkswagen ID.ERA 5X. Both carry a full-scenario driver-assistance system developed by CARIZON, the joint venture between Volkswagen Group and Horizon, running on Horizon’s Journey 6H chip and its HSDAI foundation model.
https://robotbelt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/12_1.pngFrom agreement to volume
Volkswagen and Horizon established a strategic partnership in 2022 and formed CARIZON in 2023. Since 2026 the relationship has moved into volume production. From the third quarter, the CARIZON full-scenario advanced driver-assistance system has been fitted to seven new electrified models across Volkswagen’s three Chinese joint ventures.
In July, the two companies extended the partnership into AI foundation models, with the stated aim of accelerating development toward L3 and L4 autonomy.
Why a head of state was there
The visit is a signal about where the capability now sits. Volkswagen’s Chinese joint ventures compete in the most crowded electric vehicle market in the world, and the feature that decides those sales, assisted driving, is specified and supplied through a Chinese partnership rather than a German one.
For European suppliers the read-across is direct. The architecture being validated in Hefei is the one Volkswagen will want to reuse as it pushes Chinese-developed software into cars sold in Europe. The president was shown the proof of concept for that transfer.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original Gasgoo report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://auto.gasgoo.com/news/202610/29I70476205C108.shtml.