Earlier this month, the Chinese aerospace company Geespace said it sent 11 satellites into orbit. The satellites went up in Geespace’s fourth rocket launch since 2022, bringing its total “IoT constellation” from 30 to 41 satellites. By the end of this year, it has ambitions to deploy 72 satellites, which will provide global data coverage “excluding only the polar regions,” according to a press release.
Like any other satellite firm, Geespace has relationships with several telecommunications companies, spread out over more than 20 countries, to provide high-speed internet and other connectivity services. Earlier this year, it signed new agreements with Moroccan, Malaysian, and Saudi Arabian firms.
But Geespace is also owned by the parent company of Geely, the second-best-selling carmaker in China, which also sells vehicles across five continents. Which means the rocket launch, and the in-development low-Earth-orbit constellation, also has a mobility bent. Geespace says the satellites will provide support for advanced driver-assistance systems in cars and commercial vehicles, “significantly improving travel safety and convenience.” (The company left open the possibility of supporting other vehicles’ systems too.)
This makes Geely the only global automaker with its own dedicated satellite internet constellation and a public plan to integrate that connectivity into its advanced driving tech. At a time when most global automakers are struggling through concurrent crises—a rocky transition to electric vehicles; confused and confusing approaches to software; questions around the future of autonomy; global economic upheaval and trade reorientations; and the rise of Chinese auto manufacturers—the Chinese automaker’s space play demonstrates a veritable long-term, international strategy.
“Geely has the reach, it has the capital, and obviously it has the capability to put satellites into orbit,” says Tu Le, the founder and managing director of Sino Auto Insights, a consultancy. The automaker is arguably the most international of China’s vehicle companies. In addition to its popular Geely Galaxy, Zeekr, and Lynk & Co brands, its parent company owns the majority of Volvo Cars and Lotus, nearly half of EV company Polestar, and 17 percent of Aston Martin. In 2018, Geely founder and chair Li Shufu bought a nearly 10 percent stake in Mercedes-Benz. Operating its own infrastructure in space could help support all those brands into the future. “There is no doubt that Geely has international ambitions,” says Le. “This just reinforces the mindset that Geely is going to be a global player.”
Continuing to expand globally could be existential not only for Geely, but the wider Chinese auto industry. The Chinese government has attempted to tamp down on a now-years-long auto price war that has seen round after round of aggressive cuts as the country cranks out tens of millions of vehicles annually. EV-maker BYD, which toppled Tesla this year as the globe’s number one seller of new-energy vehicles, has come under special scrutiny. Chinese government and industry officials have likened the situation to Chinese real estate developer Evergrande; the firm’s 2021 collapse plunged the nation into economic turmoil. Healthier growth might depend on international exports, which surged by 300 percent between 2021 and 2024 despite US and European trade barriers to Chinese cars.
Global Positioning
Satellite communications should have some upside for advanced auto tech—and people who buy cars equipped with it. They can give vehicle software highly precise, centimeter-level data on where cars are on the road, as well as stable (and redundant) connections, which allow better route planning and driving efficiency, Fanni Li, a principal research analyst focusing on auto technology at S&P Global Mobility, writes in an email. Right now, that sort of data might help cars perform some safety functions by themselves: stay in lanes, avoid specific collisions. One day, though, satellite communications could help autonomous vehicles, those without drivers, maintain constant connectivity in a way that today’s ground-based cellular networks can’t, especially in places where cellular infrastructure is spotty or nonexistent.
Geely has already advertised that it’s going to capitalize on its satellite capabilities. Several Geely models, including the Geely Galaxy Xinyao 8 PHEV sedan, Lynk & Co 900 PHEV SUV, and all-electric Zeekr 001, come with satellite communication technology.
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