Geely Tightens Its Strategy — Even Li Shufu’s Son Isn’t Exempt

Geely’s Strategic Shift: Why Li Shufu’s Son’s Robot Venture Met an Early End

By Ma Shuye | Edited by Lu Zhen

Yesterday, China’s embodied intelligence startup scene was shaken by an unexpected development: OneStar Robotics, a company controlled by Li Xingxing — son of Geely chairman Li Shufu — suddenly announced its dissolution.

Despite being founded less than half a year ago, OneStar arrived with powerful credentials. It was seen as a “crown prince venture backed by an automotive giant,” boasting “top-tier AI researchers,” and had “secured hundreds of millions in seed funding.” With talent, capital, and technology all in place, OneStar was expected to rise rapidly.

Yet, the abrupt shutdown left employees — most still within their probation period — stunned. “It feels like the battle had just begun, but the retreat signal was already sounded,” one staff member said, describing the disorientation.

According to Fang Yu, a member of OneStar’s tech team, “This wasn’t a layoff. The company is being dissolved completely by early November. We were still getting new orders in September, and investors who joined in August wanted to increase their stakes.” To him, both the technical progress and commercialization pace were promising.

So why would a seemingly healthy startup collapse overnight? The answer lies in Geely’s broader strategic realignment.

A Sudden End Amid Geely’s Bigger Moves

The news of OneStar’s dissolution coincided with Geely’s other major announcement: Qianli Technology, the company driving Geely’s autonomous driving ambitions, officially filed for a Hong Kong IPO on October 16. At a September 28 press conference, Qianli was repositioned as an “AI + Car + Robot” company — the centerpiece of Geely’s future strategy.

Qianli is led by 37-year-old AI prodigy Yin Qi, a Tsinghua Yao Class graduate and founder of Megvii (one of China’s “AI Four Titans”). His “Qianli Haohan” intelligent driving system has impressed Li Shufu so much that he publicly declared, “The future belongs to Yin Qi.”

In an earlier interview, Geely’s top technology executive Li Chuanhai hinted that “the world’s largest robot company might be Geely.” It’s now clear that Geely sees Qianli — not OneStar — as the core vehicle for that ambition.

According to Future Auto Daily, OneStar’s employees were given three paths after the dissolution: seek new opportunities independently, follow CTO Ding Yan in a new startup, or potentially join a fresh Geely-backed robotics venture still under discussion.

Fang Yu said he’s already been contacted by several embodied AI startups and believes his team will continue to shine elsewhere: “Even if we scatter, we’ll light up like stars.” Still, he remains focused on cleaning up remaining client orders — a quiet ending to what could have been a bold new chapter.

“We Were Winning Battles — Then Came the Retreat”

Fang Yu recalled the company’s early days vividly. Before OneStar’s official registration in May, he joined the project when the team had nothing but empty offices and unassembled desks. “It was truly starting from scratch,” he said.

Over half the technical staff had overseas experience, and many came from leading embodied intelligence startups. “Every desk had a robotic arm beside it. OneStar was literally surrounded by machines,” Fang said proudly.

Yet, by October — less than six months in — the momentum stopped.

Intern Chen Zhen left in September, still owed part of his salary. “The company assured us all unpaid wages would be settled before the formal shutdown in November,” Fang said, adding that since most hadn’t completed probation, legal severance packages like N+1 likely wouldn’t apply.

For the team, the biggest regret wasn’t the money — it was unfinished work. “We were so close to completing a demo case in a real-world industrial scenario. That would’ve been our badge of honor,” Fang said.

Decisions from the Top

At OneStar, everything ultimately led back to Geely. The team’s projects were closely linked to Geely’s car factories and logistics units, where they gathered real-world data for robotic learning applications.

In June, OneStar hired Ding Yan, a renowned researcher from Geely’s Shanghai AI Lab, as CTO and co-founder, and collaborated with top academic teams from Fudan and Tsinghua universities, along with the global FastUMI data group. This combination of industrial grounding and academic power made OneStar uniquely positioned in the robotics field.

In just three months, OneStar achieved a full commercial loop using self-collected robot data and even secured several contracts in September. “For a new embodied AI startup, having real commercial clients so quickly is rare,” Fang said.

However, most of its investors were tied to the Geely ecosystem. The July “friends and family” funding round and the September seed round were dominated by Geely affiliates such as CaoCao Mobility, Galaxy General, and other Geely-linked funds, despite participation from Baidu Ventures and other market players.

Even with his father’s influence, Li Xingxing couldn’t override Geely’s corporate direction. Insiders say “Geely’s strategic consolidation” was the true reason behind the sudden halt.

The “One Geely” Vision

Since late 2024, Geely has been implementing its “One Geely” integration plan, accelerating in 2025 to unify its brands, technologies, and investments.

• Brand Integration: Zeekr was delisted and merged into Geely; Geometry folded into Galaxy; and Zeekr and Lynk & Co were aligned for joint development.
• Technology Integration: All Geely brands now share common platform architectures to maximize scale and reduce costs.
• Autonomous Driving Integration: A joint venture with Qianli Technology consolidated all intelligent driving systems into a single “Qianli Haohan” platform.

Under this structure, Qianli represents the brain (AI + algorithms), while Geely remains the body (manufacturing + vehicles). Robotics — including algorithm and large model development — now fall squarely under Qianli’s domain.

Thus, OneStar’s shutdown wasn’t a failure of technology or a loss of confidence in the robotics industry. It was a strategic consolidation move — Geely pulling resources toward its unified AI + Robotics vision.

“Falling Is Just Part of Learning to Walk”

OneStar’s official WeChat account has been wiped clean, marking the end of a short but eventful journey. Yet, former employees remain optimistic.

“Don’t call it the end of embodied AI just because one company stumbled,” said Chen Zhen. “This field is still learning how to walk.”

Fang Yu echoed that sentiment: “The future of embodied intelligence lies in real-world data — not just internet data. When robots can learn from real actions and real environments, the true era of end-to-end intelligence will arrive.”

Though OneStar is gone, its people — and their ambition — continue to burn bright.