After collaborating on embodied intelligence, ByteDance’s Volcano Engine and Seres are now jointly working to integrate the Doubao large model into vehicle systems, according to 36Kr. The project is currently in its R&D phase.
The Doubao product family, part of ByteDance’s expanding suite of artificial intelligence offerings, is among China’s largest AI-native consumer applications by user base. In this partnership, Seres is developing the vehicle’s system architecture, while Volcano Engine focuses on deploying the large model on the car side.
“The Doubao large model will enable full-spectrum interactions across voice, vision, and more,” a person familiar with the matter told 36Kr. As part of this effort, ByteDance has also defined parameters for Seres’s in-car sensors and corresponding computing schemes.
Seres plans to equip vehicles with an independent “AI box,” an external computing module that supports Doubao’s operations.
For this box, the company is evaluating Nvidia’s Orin Y, a mid-tier automotive chip capable of supporting advanced driver assistance features. However, few automakers have been willing to bear such high in-car computing costs. Sources familiar with Seres’s R&D process said the plan remains fluid, and it’s still uncertain if the final version will adopt Orin Y.
The box is one of several deployment options under review. Seres is also considering running the model via cloud computing or integrating it directly into the vehicle’s cockpit domain controller. In other words, the final deployment plan for the Doubao large model has yet to be determined.
Automotive insiders told 36Kr that integrating large models into in-car systems has become an industry trend. Alongside Orin Y, carmakers are also evaluating Nvidia’s newer high-performance chip, Orin Thor, which delivers 700 TOPS (tera operations per second) of computing power compared to Orin Y’s 200 TOPS.
Industry data compiled by 36Kr shows that Seres, Geely, and Changan Automobile all plan to adopt standalone AI boxes to power large models in their vehicles.
A person familiar with Seres’s strategy said a key motivation for introducing ByteDance’s Doubao model is to build an independent smart platform. “Our goal is to benchmark Aito’s technical architecture,” the person said.
The partnership with ByteDance falls under Seres’s overseas business unit, with new models based on the collaboration expected to enter mass production by 2026. The initial rollout will target overseas markets. Seres has denied parts of the 36Kr report, saying not all details are accurate.
Seres is not ByteDance’s first automotive partner in the smart cockpit domain. The company has previously worked with Mercedes-Benz, Leapmotor, and Bestune. With Mercedes-Benz, ByteDance focused on in-car interaction systems, while its collaboration with Leapmotor integrated Volcano Engine’s Cheyu audiovisual app into Leapmotor’s infotainment system. The Seres partnership, however, is broader and more technically ambitious.
Recently, Seres announced that its subsidiary Chongqing Phoenix Technology will co-develop embodied intelligence solutions with Volcano Engine. Within this framework, ByteDance is helping Seres implement the Doubao large model on its next-generation platform while defining sensor parameters and computing architectures.
Integrating large models into cars
The trend of embedding large AI models into vehicles has accelerated since the rise of ChatGPT.
Automakers began adopting large models for assisted driving early on. Li Auto has already installed a vision-language-action (VLA) model with four billion parameters in its vehicles and plans to expand it to seven billion next year. Xpeng Motors is also preparing to roll out a foundational model with seven billion parameters for in-car deployment.
Within the smart cockpit domain, applying large models to in-car systems is now viewed as the next evolutionary step. The main bottleneck remains insufficient computing power from in-cabin chips. As a workaround, automakers have proposed connecting an external AI box equipped with a high-performance chip to support large model operations.
Seres’s next-generation platform is likely to adopt this approach when integrating ByteDance’s Doubao model.
Once deployed in Seres’s self-branded vehicles, the Doubao model will indirectly place ByteDance in competition with Huawei, Seres’s other major partner.
In August, Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei’s vehicle business unit, said the company plans to upgrade its HarmonySpace cockpit system from a simple Q&A assistant into a proactive, context-aware companion.
“For instance,” Jin said, “if the car detects that the passenger in the back seat has fallen asleep, it will automatically lower the curtains, tint the windows, and reduce noise.” Jin described this as a key step in HarmonySpace’s AI progression.
With the Doubao model, Seres’s next-generation vehicles are expected to elevate in-car intelligence from basic voice interaction to full-vehicle interaction, capable of handling route planning, recognizing cabin conditions, and improving passenger safety.
People familiar with Seres’s strategy told 36Kr that adopting Doubao is part of the company’s broader goal to build independent technological capabilities in smart mobility.
Cutting back dependence on Huawei
Seres’s partnership with Huawei began in 2019 with the launch of the Aito brand. The lineup now includes the M5, M7, M8, and M9 models. As of September 2024, cumulative deliveries had exceeded 800,000 units, with the M8 and M9 leading sales in the RMB 400,000 (USD 56,000) and RMB 500,000 (USD 70,000) segments, respectively.
The rapid success of Aito transformed Seres from a struggling automaker into one of the few profitable electric vehicle manufacturers globally. In 2024, Seres reported a net profit of RMB 5.95 billion (USD 832.4 million). In the first half of 2025, net profit rose 81.03% year-on-year to RMB 2.94 billion (USD 411.7 million).
Still, Seres’s deep dependence on Huawei has introduced uncertainty into its long-term outlook. The company acknowledged as much in its H-share prospectus, warning that any major change in its partnership with Huawei could materially affect its performance.
Now that Seres has achieved financial self-sufficiency, developing its own brand has become a strategic priority. Given fierce domestic competition, the company is shifting its self-branded business focus overseas, and its collaboration with ByteDance represents a key step in that plan.
Seres also intends to allocate 20% of the proceeds from its upcoming Hong Kong listing to marketing, overseas sales, and charging network expansion to strengthen global brand recognition.
In the years ahead, Seres’s dual identity may become more pronounced: a loyal Huawei partner in China, and an ambitious, independent contender in international markets.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Fan Shuqi for 36Kr.