The automotive industry is currently undergoing an unprecedented transformation. From the transformation of sales strategies towards consumer electronics models and the surging proportion of software costs in R&D, to the demand for efficient collaboration across the manufacturing supply chain, every link calls for the deep empowerment of AI+ auto digital intelligence.

On September 19, at the 2025 AI+ Auto Digital Intelligence Innovation & Sharing Annual Conference and Automotive Industry 15th Five-Year Plan Digital Intelligence Development Summit themed "Creating AI Momentum, Sharing Digital Intelligence Transformation", Hu Yongli, General Manager of Lan-You Technology, delivered a keynote speech titled "AI Application Innovation Model in the Automotive Industry—Lan-You AI Factory". Leveraging over 20 years of experience deeply rooted in the automotive sector, Lan-You has created the unique "AI Factory" model, integrating AI technology deeply into the entire automotive value chain of R&D, production, supply, sales, service, and management.

It is reported that, based on the AI Factory innovation model, Lan-You plans to invest RMB 120 million to build an AI application scenario library for the automotive industry, with 106 applications already deployed, 146 currently under development, and future plans to cover over 1,000 AI application scenarios across the entire value chain.

1. AI Transforms Smart Manufacturing

Although the wave of artificial intelligence has swept across various industries, some traditional enterprises still exhibit path dependence, fully adopting conventional IT methods, technologies, and organizations to carry out AI application innovation activities, which leads to numerous issues and few opportunities for successful innovation.

Hu Yongli stated that the core logic of the Lan-You AI Factory is to abandon the "generalized application" of AI technology and focus on the "deep water zone" strongly related to the automotive industry, digging deep into technology in the business field. This model is not a single point of technological breakthrough but is driven by "business demand as the core, data as the foundation, and algorithms as the engine", achieving a full-chain transformation from process restructuring to value creation. 

For instance, in the R&D field, the Lan-You AI Factory helps enterprises move from "spec race" to "precise definition", solving the dilemma of product homogenization. Hu Yongli noted that the automotive industry now releases more than 700 new and facelifted models each year — an average pace of two launches per day — leaving consumers overwhelmed and automakers trapped in a spec race that piles on features but fails to truly move users.

Based on this, the Lan-You AI Factory first constructs an AI mapping system from "user demand to product definition". Unlike traditional "experience-driven" approaches, Lan-You establishes a user demand tag library (such as smart cockpit interaction preferences and pain points regarding range anxiety) by analyzing massive user behavior data (such as social preferences, usage scenarios, and feedback), combined with automaker R&D data, to precisely position the product’s "differentiating selling points".

Secondly, as the proportion of software costs in vehicles significantly increases and the number of code lines surges, the traditional R&D system struggles to meet the challenges of software complexity. The Lan-You AI Factory embeds AI throughout the entire software development process, achieving automated management from requirements analysis and code generation to testing and O&M.

In the manufacturing field, the Lan-You AI Factory is also disrupting conventional practices. The "long-chain, multi-variable" nature of the automotive manufacturing supply chain previously left traditional planning systems passive, often finding that "the plan was obsolete one week after calculation". The Lan-You AI Factory thoroughly restructures supply chain collaboration logic through "algorithmic integration + real-time response": in the planning and scheduling phase, the AI algorithm integrates multi-dimensional data such as sales forecasts, production capacity, logistics scheduling, and supplier capacity, refining "monthly plans" down to "hourly scheduling". For example, a user order can be incorporated into the production schedule within one hour, significantly shortening the delivery cycle. Simultaneously, AI can dynamically adjust the plan—when a sudden capacity fluctuation occurs at a supplier, the system can instantly calculate alternative solutions, preventing production line shutdowns.

Beyond this, AI also solves the two major pain points of "equipment assurance and quality control". Hu Yongli gave an example, explaining that in response to issues such as critical equipment like robotic arm reducers being “too costly to fail and difficult to keep spares for”, Lan-You leverages AI to collect real-time data on noise, vibration, and current. By building a life prediction model with an accuracy rate of 70%–80%, the system can provide failure warnings up to three months in advance. In quality inspection, the AI vision system replaces manual work for multiple key checks: identifying the risk of glue bead interruption through real-time imaging during the adhesive application phase, and automatically detecting scratches with high-definition cameras when the vehicle rolls off the line, which both improves inspection efficiency and prevents errors caused by human fatigue.

2. AI Empowers Automotive Marketing

In addition to R&D and production, AI is also reshaping the B2C chain in the marketing field. Following the shift of automotive marketing strategy from B2B to B2C, "low lead quality, poor conversion efficiency, and unsatisfactory customer experience" have become common industry ailments. The Lan-You AI Factory constructs a closed loop from lead generation to transaction service through "full-chain AI empowerment".

At the lead acquisition and screening stage, AI achieves "content automation + precise distribution". Using AI content generation tools, promotional videos and graphic materials for vehicle models can be created with a single click, with content styles automatically adjusted according to the user attributes of different platforms. For thousands of matrix accounts, AI automatically handles content distribution and data monitoring, avoiding the inefficiency of manual management. 

In the lead operation phase, AI creates a system for "real-time response + intelligent quality inspection". After users leave their information in the livestream, the AI system instantly assigns the lead to the corresponding customer service representative and triggers a phone invitation — achieving “connection before the livestream ends”. During the customer interaction, the AI voice quality inspection system monitors the conversation in real time, checks the compliance of scripts, and cross-references with the knowledge base to ensure information accuracy. At the same time, AI dynamically tags leads, classifying them according to user intent (such as consultation frequency and configuration focus), prioritizing the push of high-intent leads to sales consultants to improve conversion efficiency.

In the in-store transaction phase, the Lan-You Smart Store, empowered by AI software and hardware systems, can automatically record customer visit batches and monitor the compliance of in-store product arrangements; during test rides and drives, the AI quality inspection system continues to supervise the completeness of the sales presentation. After the transaction, AI automatically creates a WeCom service group, and the AI customer service chatbot, which integrates the automaker's knowledge base, answers user questions in real-time, avoiding issues like "delayed response and inaccurate answers".

Lan-You revealed that the restructured process transforms lead management from tedious "person-to-person supervision" into an AI-driven high-speed channel, with efficiency increasing by over 30%, completing tasks in minutes that previously took hours. Manual quality inspection is significantly reduced, cutting costs by 15%. Every lead is maximized, resulting in an 8% increase in conversion rate.

3. AI Reshapes Automotive Finance

In light of the challenges like "difficulty granting credit to credit-novice customers and low risk control efficiency” in the automotive finance field, the Lan-You AI Factory opens up new opportunities in this domain through "non-traditional data + compliant algorithms".

Li Song, Assistant General Manager of Lan-You, told the media that in the risk control phase, AI realizes "full-dimensional data modeling". While traditional risk control relies excessively on credit data, Lan-You integrates third-party compliant data (such as user mobile APP usage frequency and social circle tags) to build over 300 automotive finance-specific tags.

Bank statement review is a pain point in automotive finance risk control. Traditional manual review is inefficient and error-prone. Lan-You utilizes AI technology to automatically recognize statement data in formats like Excel tables and images, extract income and expenditure information, and compare it against the risk control model, substantially increasing loan review efficiency. 

"Credit-novice" customers in lower-tier markets struggle to obtain credit from traditional financial institutions due to a lack of credit data. Lan-You cooperates with institutions like Wenzhou Data Security Hub to achieve tag exchange within a data security framework, supplementing behavioral data of users from fourth- and fifth-tier cities. Addressing issues like the small sample size in lower-tier markets, the AI model continuously optimizes algorithmic accuracy as the number of served users increases.

In the automotive finance field, post-loan business processing is the slowest and most painful stage. After the loan is finalized, customer requests to modify repayment plans, change repayment accounts, or apply for extensions require manual system entry, line-by-line review of contracts, statements, and credit reports, followed by multi-level approval flow. A single process often takes several days to complete. The Lan-You AI Factory has restructured the post-loan business processing flow, shifting from "manual handling" to "AI agent". A customer inputs a request in a simple sentence, and the AI automatically identifies and verifies it, directly generating processing suggestions and issuing execution instructions with one click, completely freeing sales staff from tedious data entry and review activities. Post-loan business processing automation rate exceeds 80%, customer experience is improved by over 40%, and the volume of inquiries to human customer service agents is reduced by more than half. Post-loan businesses that previously required several days can now be completed in minutes, allowing customers to receive immediate results. Furthermore, AI comprehensively manages the process, which is fully traceable, meeting compliance and audit requirements.

4. Lan-You AI Factory: Understands Both AI and the Industry

Compared to general AI companies, while Lan-You may not be the strongest overall, it possesses its own core competitiveness within the automotive industry.

Yu Bin, CTO of Lan-You, stated that unlike the "technology-first, then adapt to the industry" model of general AI companies, Lan-You's two decades of deep industry immersion means it is intimately familiar with the "end-point processes and logic" of the automotive value chain. For instance, in smart scheduling, Lan-You not only masters algorithmic technology but also understands industry details such as "equipment debugging time for switching between different car models" and "fluctuation patterns in parts suppliers' delivery cycles", making the algorithms align more closely with actual business needs. In marketing lead management, AI can precisely identify the true demand behind a user's inquiry about range (e.g., anxiety about long-distance travel). This integration of "industry expertise + technical capability" allows Lan-You's AI to avoid the predicament of being "technologically advanced but difficult to deploy".

Furthermore, the Lan-You AI Factory establishes a "long-term co-existence" relationship with automakers. For example, in marketing lead operations, the AI knowledge base needs to extract new knowledge points from tens of thousands of customer conversations daily, achieving "2-3 updates per day", and in supply chain collaboration, the AI system adjusts logistics algorithms and supplier management models in real-time based on changes in the automaker's overseas business layout (such as adding a new factory in Southeast Asia). This service model of "high-frequency iteration and dynamic adaptation" is much faster than the "semi-annual iteration" rhythm of general technology companies, allowing it to better respond to the rapid changes in the automotive industry.

During the critical period of the automotive industry's transformation towards "electrification and intelligence", the Lan-You AI Factory not only provides automakers with actionable, high-value AI+ auto digital intelligence solutions but also defines an "innovation paradigm" for AI applications in the sector—it is not about pursuing "high-end and sophisticated" technology, but about truly making AI a "productivity tool" that solves business pain points and creates user value. Perhaps this is the key model for the Chinese automotive industry to achieve "digital intelligence leadership" in global competition.

(Source: PCauto)