Key insights
- The post suggests that the focus on the "Magnificent Seven" might be overlooking opportunities in the ADAS and autonomous driving software space. It highlights WeRide's advancements in urban autonomous driving technology and its deployment in mass-market vehicles, particularly in China and expanding globally. This could signal a shift in investment focus from chip manufacturers to companies deploying AI software in the automotive sector, potentially impacting US equity valuations in the long term.
The Mag 7 are great but don't get me wrong, the valuations feel so crowded that I was wondering where the actual boots on the ground implementation of AI is happening right now and specifically the urban autonomous driving, ADAS space looking like a total cage match recently. I was reading some results from the latest D1EV Urban Intelligent Driving Competition in Wuhu and the tech gap is wider. WeRide WRD 3.0 solution took first place again, beating out XPeng and Horizon Robotics by 10 points. Also the hardware-agnostic nature of those systems, this WRD 3.0 is in mass production on Chery Exeed Sterra ET and EX7 the new one just launched. People keep debating about Tesla FSD and these companies are running end-to-end models that can handle insane, mixed-traffic streets in Asia. Maybe the real alpha for 2026 isn't going to be in chips anymore, but the ones deploying the software into mass-market production cycles globally. WeRide is already moving into global markets with Tiggo, Lepas, Omoda, and JAECOO.