Zeekr joins China’s autonomous-driving race with plans to unveil tech at Shanghai car show

New York-listed Zeekr, which finalised a merger with Lynk on Friday, will reveal its L3 self-driving system in April

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Zeekr is eyeing a 44 per cent jump in deliveries to 320,000 units this year. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:53pm, 14 Feb 2025

Chinese carmaker Zeekr Intelligent Technology, which is controlled by Geely Auto, has joined the autonomous-driving bandwagon, after completing a merger with its sister brand Lynk.

The development comes after BYD, the world’s No 1 electric vehicle (EV) maker, said this week that it would offer an autopilot system in all its cars, making autonomous driving affordable for all Chinese customers.

New York-listed Zeekr said on Friday that its in-house developed level 3 (L3) self-driving technology would debut at the Shanghai Auto Show in April.

“The L3 architecture will come to fruition soon,” CEO An Conghui said in a letter to Zeekr employees. The next-generation technology would be superior to existing ones in terms of computing power, structure, performance and safety, he added.

An Conghui pictured in March 2017. The Zeekr CEO says the company’s autonomous driving system would be vastly superior to its rivals. Photo: Jonathan Wong

An’s remarks came after Zeekr officially completed the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Lynk, another premium EV brand under Geely, mainland China’s second-largest automotive group in terms of sales.

The merged units were now operating under a fully integrated ecosystem, according to a filing to the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.