Zeekr Starts Crowdfunding Bid To Develop ADAS Upgrade For Older 001 & 009 EVs

Geely-owned Zeekr has elected to raise capital  to develop ADAS upgrade tech for 'older' (model year 2024) 001 and 009 EVs in the most un-traditional way - crowdfunding.

It’s not often you hear of a major automaker resorting to raising capital for tech development via online crowdfunding. However, that’s exactly what Geely-owned Zeekr is reportedly bidding for in China recently.

Through crowdfunding, the automaker seeks to  raise the capital needed to develop both hardware and software to upgrade the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) primed in ‘older’ Zeekr 001 and 009 electric vehicle (EV) models – specifically 2024MY versions.

The crowdfunding effort aims to raise capital to develop an upgrade ADAS pack retrofit specifically for 'older' (2024MY) Zeekr 001 and Zeekr 009 EV models.

The automaker reportedly announced the campaign via its official Weibo page where it invites customers seeking the upgrade noted to sign up from Nov 24 to Dec 24 this year. The firm is targeting to woo at least 3,000 participants for the 001 model’s upgrade, and a further 1,500 participants for the 009 model’s upgrade.

In return, customers who sign up for which benefit with a subsidised upgrade package for both the 001 and 009 priced at RMB13,500 (RM7,858) and RMB18,500 (RM10,768) respectively. Without said subsidies, which will be issued via vouchers, the upgrade package can instead cost higher at RMB33,500 (RM19,500) and RMB38,500 (RM22,410).

The retrofit upgrade in the 001 model alone requires 60 individual parts replacement that takes over 20 hours of labour to execute.

As for the upgrade itself, Zeekr seeks to replace the Mobileye EyeQ5H system primed in the 2024MY 001 and 009 models – rated at 48 TOPS (tera operations per sec) – with the brand’s new G-Pilot H7 system. The latter builds upon the Nvidia Drive Thor-U architecture capable of delivering up to 700 TOPS instead.

The massive jump in computing power noted naturally requires massive hardware changes, meaning replacing chips, rewiring harnesses and redesigning system deployments. For the 001 model specifically, the upgrade calls for 60 individual parts replacement, which in turn requires over 20 hours of labour to execute too.

Despite the high-cost (even with subsidies) and intense labour to retrofit, the upgrade could be worthwhile for owners as it brings enhanced functions like the Navigation Zeekr Pilot (NZP) high-speed autonomous pilot.

Despite the high cost and intense effort to perform this upgrade, participating Zeekr owners will benefit with upgraded EVs that offer the Navigation Zeekr Pilot (NZP) high-speed autonomous pilot feature, followed by Hone Zone Park Assist (HPA), as well as General Automated Evasion System (G-AES) – all require ultra-high computing power.

Critically, development costs plus a degree of expenses are still borne by Zeekr, with sources in China indicating that the automaker is spending some RMB200 million (RM116 million) to develop and validate this retrofittable upgrade pack.