Dongfeng Motor Reinvents Automotive Intelligence with Technological Confidence at 2025 Shanghai Auto Show

Dongfeng Motor Corporation is redefining the landscape of automotive intelligence with confidence in technology. On April 23, the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition officially opened its doors. Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. showcased more than 20 complete vehicles along with 9 technological exhibits under the theme “Smartly Drawing a New Dongfeng.”

During the event, Dongfeng Motor introduced its “Tianyuan Intelligent” technology brand, establishing a smart technology framework characterized by “one core, two bases, and dual origins.” This clearly demonstrates Dongfeng’s commitment and confidence in leveraging independent technological innovation to reshape the automotive industry, from foundational architecture to application ecosystems, and from domestic markets to international expansion.

Establishing a Robust System to Decode the Core of Intelligence

The “one core, two bases, dual origins” intelligent technology framework is central to Dongfeng’s strategy for future automotive intelligence. By reconstructing product capabilities and business models through intelligent technologies, Dongfeng remains competitive in the fiercely contested new energy and intelligent vehicle markets. Specifically, Dongfeng’s intelligent breakthrough begins with profound control over foundational technologies. As a fully self-developed enterprise-level large model, the “Taiji Large Model” embodies Dongfeng’s philosophical exploration of forward-looking technologies like AI, symbolizing a blend of strength and flexibility and the potential for infinite evolution. This reflects Dongfeng’s pursuit of continuous advancement in intelligent technologies.

The model boasts three core advantages: a deep integration of large language models, visual models, and multimodal models, all functioning as an end-to-end model. This enables intelligent collaboration across research and development, manufacturing, products, and services. It can dynamically learn and transfer across different scenarios, supporting continuous technological iteration and building a comprehensive AI foundation covering user mobility and enterprise operations.

The Tianyuan architecture serves as the “Central Intelligence Platform,” facilitating deep integration across four domains: power, body, cockpit, and intelligent driving. It offers over 1,000 atomic services with a communication efficiency that surpasses traditional architectures by 400%, establishing a robust hardware foundation for advanced intelligence. Furthermore, the Tianyuan OS operating system, developed in collaboration with leading research institutions like China Automotive Technology & Research Center, aims to create a “safe, efficient, and open” domestic vehicle operating system. The chip resource utilization can reach up to 95%, reducing the hardware cost per vehicle by 10-20%, and promoting an “eco-construct” industry through an open-source model.

In the realm of intelligent assisted driving, Dongfeng is committed to both passenger and commercial vehicles, leveraging the industry’s most comprehensive industrial layout. Tianyuan Intelligent Driving has launched four levels of solutions, from T100 to T1000, balancing safety and efficiency. The Tianyuan Intelligent Cockpit establishes a “visual + voice + biometric perception” interactive system, integrating AI systems like Deepseek and Doubao, transforming vehicles from mere transportation tools into emotional interactive “third living spaces.” It supports over 1,000 customizable scenarios to meet diverse user needs from travel to entertainment and work.

Breaking Technological Barriers and Promoting Industrial Collaborative Evolution

As one of the early adopters of intelligent technologies, Dongfeng’s research and development investment intensity in its self-owned brands exceeds 8%. Reports indicate that Dongfeng holds over 5,000 patents for new energy intelligent connected vehicles. By employing a “self-developed + co-creation” dual approach, Dongfeng collaborates with innovative enterprises like Huawei and China Automotive Technology & Research Center, while maintaining control over core technologies. This provides a replicable model for traditional automakers undergoing intelligent transformation.

Moreover, the open-source model of Tianyuan OS not only represents technology sharing but also the reconstruction of the industrial ecosystem, reflecting the responsibility of a state-owned enterprise. By opening the operating system kernel, middleware, and toolchain, Dongfeng will help partners reduce software costs per vehicle by over 15% annually and shorten product iteration cycles by 30%. Naturally, no matter how forward-thinking the technology, safety must always come first, avoiding blind accumulation while ensuring thorough testing and evaluation. As You Zheng, Deputy General Manager and member of the Party Committee of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd., stated during an interview at the exhibition, “Whether in new energy or intelligent technologies, the goal is to achieve zero pollution and zero emissions for society. In terms of intelligent assisted driving, we aim for zero accidents, providing comprehensive safety for users, including battery safety, passive safety, active safety, information security, and health safety.”

Dongfeng has consistently prioritized safety as the baseline for intelligent development. For example, its batteries undergo rigorous tests, including “submersion in water and exposure to fire,” exceeding national standards. The vehicle body has achieved a five-star rating in the C-NCAP, and the intelligent assisted driving system employs both end-to-end and rule-based redundancy to ensure safety for drivers and passengers in extreme scenarios. This rational adherence in the midst of technological acceleration sets a commendable development model for the industry.

Global Expansion and New Chapters in Overseas Development

During the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show, Dongfeng Motor signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Saudi Universal Motors Agencies (UMA), aiming to establish the Saudi market as a core strategic hub for Dongfeng’s expansion into the Middle East and as a significant foothold for reaching the six Gulf countries. This marks a significant breakthrough in Dongfeng’s globalization strategy within the Middle East, showcasing the vitality of Dongfeng in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative.

This strategic move follows Dongfeng’s key layouts in Europe and Southeast Asia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Data shows that in the first quarter of 2025, Dongfeng’s exports of self-owned passenger vehicles grew by 63% year-on-year, while exports of new energy vehicles surged by 138%. The Nano 01 topped the sales charts in the Netherlands’ electric vehicle market in January 2025. With a steady and forward-looking approach, Dongfeng is demonstrating the global competitiveness of its brand through “intelligent manufacturing” from China.

Since the 12th Five-Year Plan, Dongfeng has been exploring automotive intelligence. It was one of the first companies to receive autonomous driving road test licenses during the 13th Five-Year Plan. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, Dongfeng has achieved significant results in fields such as intelligent assisted driving, intelligent cockpits, and integrated vehicle-cloud-road systems. In this race towards intelligence, Dongfeng is breaking through core technologies with ten years of dedication, reconstructing the industrial ecosystem with an open and co-creative approach, prioritizing user safety, and expanding its global footprint through the Belt and Road Initiative. Behind this progress is the commitment of a state-owned enterprise to serve the nation’s interests and the historical leap of Chinese automobiles from “market-driven technology” to “technology setting standards.”

As the wave of intelligence sweeps across the globe, Dongfeng Motor demonstrates through its actions that only by mastering core technologies, adhering to user-centric values, and considering the broader industrial landscape can it strategically navigate the future competition and determine outcomes.