SAIC enters joint venture with TTTech to install “brains” in unmanned vehicles

Shanghai Automotive Group Co., Ltd. (SAIC) signed a 50.1:49.9 share joint venture contract with Austrian TTTech Computertechnik AG (TTTech) to accelerate development of an intelligent electronic control unit (iECU) and enhance core technical capabilities in smart driving. The move will further consolidate SAIC’s advantage in smart driving technology and ensure that its own brand of smart-driving cars will take the lead this year.

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Founded in 1998, TTTech is the world’s leading iECU provider. TTTech provides stable and reliable interconnectioned security and control solutions for aerospace, highway, construction, automobiles and other industrial enterprises. TTTech has provided technological solutions for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Sikorsky’s Raider attack helicopter and other high-end industrial products.

SAIC is China’s largest auto group. It ranks 41st on the 2017 Fortune Global 500 list and seventh in the global automotive industry. In recent years, SAIC has been speeding up its innovation and development strategies featuring electrification, intelligent network, sharing and internationalization. SAIC is transforming into a supplier of comprehensive travel service and automobile products for consumers.

As the leader in smart driving in China, SAIC launched its own research on key technologies of smart driving systems as early as 2013, and actively cooperated with international leaders such as Mobileye, Infineon, China Mobile, Huawei, NVIDIA and Qualcomm. SAIC has accumulated experience in smart driving technology, iECU, vehicle application (V2X) key technology, and high-precision map technology. SAIC has conducted research on smart driving in closed test sites, highways, special parks, urban areas, ground and underground car parks and other scenarios, with over 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) of vehicle testing accumulated. In March this year, SAIC received China’s first road test license for smart network-linked cars, which will promote SAIC’s smart driving technology towards large-scale application and mass production.

The joint venture will encompass developing, manufacturing and selling advanced driving auxiliary systems, iECUs and related components. It will also be responsible for the sale, wholesale, import and export of self-developed products, and for providing services to the Chinese market, including market development services, technology development services, technical advisory services and after-sales services.

The iECU produced by the joint venture will be applied to SAIC’s first mass-produced smart driving vehicle in China, the Roewe Vision-E. As a smart pure-electric car with functions like autonomous parking, the Roewe Vision-E will bring consumers an all-new driving experience.