Recently, there's been some confusion about ByteDance and Chery Automobile's overseas cooperation, so it's worth clarifying the actual situation.

ByteDance's commitment to not manufacturing vehicles remains unchanged. Volcano Engine has clearly stated—no vehicle production, no autonomous driving business, only AI and cloud services. The overseas expansion follows this strategy, focusing on outputting intelligent solutions while avoiding heavy asset pitfalls.

Chery is ByteDance's core cooperation partner overseas, but the collaboration scope is quite well-defined. The Doubao large model will be integrated into vehicles, with mass production in the Middle East and European markets in 2026, providing multimodal interaction (voice, vision, gesture support) covering route planning and passenger state recognition. Additionally, there's joint development in embodied AI, where both parties collaborate on multimodal cloud-edge collaborative robot decision-control technology without a defined timeline limit. ByteDance also participates in the technical definition phase, responsible for optimizing in-vehicle sensor parameters in preparation for 2026 vehicle applications.

It's important to note that these collaborations are limited to the technology layer, without equity binding or deep production manufacturing integration. Chery's overseas brand belongs to Chery itself; ByteDance merely provides intelligent solutions through a technology service fee model.

ByteDance actually collaborates with more than just Chery. Mercedes-Benz's pure electric CLA is equipped with the Doubao large model for global markets. GAC also received overseas marketing and digital platform support from Volcano Engine, including multilingual translation and cross-border data compliance. Overall, ByteDance is exploring AI large model implementation in global automotive markets through different partners.

Why is Chery ByteDance's core overseas partner? The core reason is strategic complementarity. Chery focuses on self-owned brands overseas but lacks the halo effect of Huawei, urgently needing AI differentiation to break through. ByteDance needs overseas deployment scenarios to validate large model effects in automotive applications; Chery's factories in Hungary and Mexico provide production capacity support. Starting from October last year, both parties signed embodied AI cooperation agreements, and by late October confirmed Doubao deployment plans, with collaboration progressing quite rapidly. From a marketing perspective, ByteDance's TikTok global traffic pool can also assist Chery's localized promotion.

Comparing Huawei and Chery's AITO model reveals the difference. Huawei provides full-stack intelligent solutions with deep binding (autonomous driving, cabin, marketing all-inclusive), with the AITO brand managed by Huawei's ecosystem, primarily domestic. ByteDance offers AI technology empowerment plus joint development, with Chery retaining its own brand for overseas sales, both settling through technology service fees without sharing vehicle profit distribution. The benefit is that Chery can simultaneously own dual technical routes from both Huawei and ByteDance, each serving different product lines with complementary rather than conflicting markets.

Looking ahead, Chery's 2026 overseas vehicles will be the first mass-produced cars equipped with the Doubao large model, emphasizing AI interaction experience differentiation. ByteDance will continue expanding cooperation with other automakers, but Chery is the benchmark for deep joint development, with other collaborations primarily technology empowerment-focused. This cooperation also won't affect Chery and Huawei's relationship, with both parties performing their respective roles, coordinating when necessary and operating independently when appropriate.