Great Wall Motor (02333) has announced the shutdown and dissolution of its subsidiary, Horizon Robotics, with the original plan of listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by 2025.

According to media reports, it was announced on November 23 that Hozon Auto, the self-driving technology company under Great Wall Motor, informed employees that they did not need to report to work starting from November 24 and the compensation plan has not been announced. A source mentioned that currently, Hozon Auto has more than 200 employees, and the company has not provided a specific explanation internally about what adjustments will be made after the shutdown, "it could be a complete dissolution, or just a temporary shutdown, but the date of resumption is still unclear." Another source revealed that the operation of Hozon Auto has basically stagnated, and departments such as public relations are vacant. In terms of projects, only one cooperation project with Hyundai is still in progress. Officially, Great Wall Motor has not publicly responded to this matter, but a spokesperson from the Intelligent Driving Department of Great Wall Motor said that the department has basically detached the technology solutions from Hozon Auto's business. Public information shows that Hozon Auto was established in November 2019, focusing on artificial intelligence technology for autonomous driving. It was the first company in China to achieve mass production of self-driving technology. Its predecessor was the Intelligent Driving System Development Department established by Great Wall Motor in 2015, and it was an internal incubated subsidiary of Great Wall Motor. The team is composed of internal technical staff from Great Wall Motor and engineers from technology companies such as Baidu and Huawei. Hozon Auto also had its glory days: in the A-round financing in 2021, top institutions such as Meituan, Hillhouse, Qualcomm, and others invested nearly 1 billion yuan, making it quickly enter the unicorn ranks. Since May 2021, the core product assisted driving system HPilot 1.0 has been quickly installed in various models such as the WEY Macho. In March 2022, the assisted driving system was rapidly iterated to version HPilot 2.0. By 2024, user intelligent driving mileage exceeded 250 million kilometers. It is known that the personnel turmoil at Hozon Auto has been going on for a long time. Last year, Hozon Auto initiated a large-scale layoff, with functional departments accounting for as much as one-third to nearly half, and during the same period, data scientist He Xiang also announced his resignation. This year, Chairman Zhang Kai announced his resignation in June, and several middle and senior management personnel also resigned, including Vice President of Technology Ai Rui, Vice President of Product Cai Na, and Brand Officer Wang Jia, among other key figures. The listing process of Hozon Auto is also worthy of attention. In July 2023, there were reports that Hozon Auto was considering a Hong Kong listing in 2024, raising $300 million to $400 million. However, in October 2024, it was reported that Great Wall Motor Chairman Wei Jianjun had temporarily halted the IPO plan of Hozon Auto in Hong Kong internally, but at that time, Hozon Auto Chairman Zhang Kai denied the news, emphasizing that "Hozon Auto has not halted its Hong Kong IPO plan and it is still ongoing," with a specific IPO target of "2025." As of November 24, the company has not submitted listing materials to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Sources said that following the company's operational crisis, speculation within the company has been ongoing that major shareholder Great Wall Motor may take over Hozon Auto, but currently, there is no clear intention from the Great Wall side.