Horizon Journey Series (Journey)

Horizon Journey is an automotive-grade smart driving processor series developed by Chinese edge-AI chipmaker Horizon Robotics. As the first and most widely mass-produced automotive smart chip in China, the Journey series is built upon its proprietary BPU (Brain Processing Unit) intelligent driving compute architecture, covering computing demands ranging from Level 2 basic driver assistance to full-scenario Urban NOA (Navigate on Autopilot). As of August 2025, cumulative mass-production shipments of the Journey chip family surpassed 10 million units, making it the first smart driving technology firm in China to achieve this milestone.

Product Matrix and Technological Evolution

The Journey series has evolved through three generations of architecture, with processing power surging over 1,000-fold in a decade. Its current core line-up is the Journey 6 series introduced in 2024. Built on the third-generation BPU "Nash architecture", it offers scalable compute options from 10 TOPS to 560 TOPS, standing as China's only unified compute solution capable of supporting all tiers of intelligent driving.

The Journey 5 utilises an octa-core Cortex-A55 CPU paired with a proprietary BPU deep-learning accelerator, drawing just 30W of power to deliver Level 2+ functions like Highway NOA, though compute limitations prevent it from handling urban NOA scenarios. In contrast, the Journey 6 series delivers a comprehensive leap: the entry-level 6B is tailored specifically to meet global safety standards (C-NCAP, Euro NCAP), enabling joint-venture marques to offer smart driving as standard on entry-level models; the mid-tier 6E/M brings urban smart driving down to popular mass-market models priced around RM100,000; whilst the flagship 6P boasts 560 TOPS of processing power to run Horizon's in-house HSD full-scenario assisted driving system, widely hailed in the industry as "China's answer to FSD".

Market Position and Mass Production Performance

The Journey series continues to lead China's domestic passenger car smart driving processor market. Industry data from the first half of 2026 shows Horizon capturing top spot in the domestic brand all-tier smart driving chip market with a 31.94% market share, closely trailed by NVIDIA (29.38%). In the high-end segment supporting Urban NOA, Horizon leveraged volume production of the Journey 6 series to expand its market share to 22.82%, climbing to second place and establishing a duopoly alongside NVIDIA.

As of mid-2026, the Journey 6 series had secured design-win partnerships across over 25 carmakers and more than 100 vehicle models, with over 40 models already rolling off production lines and launched in the market. Meanwhile, the HSD full-scenario assisted driving system has secured partnerships spanning 10 global carmakers across more than 20 models, with smart driving activations surpassing 25,000 units within just eight weeks of the initial batch of models hitting the market.

Next-Generation Performance and Future Plans

Horizon has unveiled its fourth-generation BPU architecture, dubbed "Riemann", which will underpin the upcoming Journey 7 series processors scheduled for series production in 2027. Product development for the Journey 7 series is driven by algorithm teams, with the high-performance J7P variant targeted to surpass NVIDIA Thor-X in compute performance to support Level 3 full-scenario autonomous driving. In addition, the C7H chip developed on this architecture by CARIZON—Horizon's joint venture with Volkswagen—utilises a 3–4nm fabrication process to deliver 500 to 700 TOPS of AI compute from a single chip. Industry observers anticipate that volume production of the Journey 7 will further lower the barrier to entry for advanced smart driving systems, accelerating their mass-market adoption.