(Yicai) Aug. 7 -- Chinese automotive giant Geely Automobile Holdings plans to integrate its three smart driving teams into its new joint venture to further promote its consolidation strategy.

Qianli Intelligent Driving Technology will absorb the 1,500-employee smart driving team of Geely Auto’s premium electric vehicle brand Zeekr, the 1,000 staffers from the Geely Automobile Research Institute, as well as about 500 people from autopilot startup Maichi Zhixing, sources from Geely Auto told Yicai.

Geely Auto’s supply chain consists of at least five intelligent driving teams, three internal -- Geely Auto Research Institute, Zeekr, and Lotus Cars -- and two third-party suppliers -- Ecarx and Freetech.

Once the integration is completed, Qianli Intelligent Driving will operate as an independent company. It will not only become an important partner of Geely Auto, but also provide smart driving solutions to the whole automobile industry, an insider said.

Geely Auto announced in March that it would set up a CNY4.8 billion (USD668.3 million) JV with Maichi, QL Partnership, Lotus’ self-driving tech arm Lotus Robotics, and an employee incentive platform. The JV was formally established in June.

The Hangzhou-based carmaker, which pledged to inject CNY1.3 billion of assets into the JV, owns a 30 percent stake in Qianli Intelligent Driving through its auto parts subsidiary Jirun Automobile. Maichi and QL also have a 30 percent stake each in the JV, while Geely Auto’s Lotus and the employee incentive platform equally share the remaining 10 percent. 

Li Shufu, president of Geely Auto’s parent firm Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, unveiled the Taizhou Declaration last September, a strategy set out to create a unified platform by integrating in-house resources, eliminating internal competition and redundant investment, and enhancing overall efficiency.

Since then, Geely Auto has merged several sub-brands, including Lynk & Co into Zeekr and Geome into Galaxy. It also unveiled a plan to take Zeekr private by the end of the year by delisting it from the New York Stock Exchange.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione