[IAUTO] How AI+ Auto Digital Intelligence are Reshaping the Entire Vehicle Value Chain: R&D, Production, Supply, Sales, Service, and Management? — Insights from Executives at Lan-You Technology

Introduction: “Digging deep into a specific field.”

At the 2025 AI+ Auto Digital Intelligence Innovation & Sharing Annual Conference, several Lan-You executives shared in-depth insights into the cutting-edge trends and practical pathways for the AI-driven digital intelligence transformation of the automotive industry.

During the media interview session, the company leadership systematically responded to key issues such as how AI is redefining the entire automotive value chain (R&D, production, supply, sales, service, and management), digital intelligence support for OEMs expanding globally, and the upgrade of intelligent cockpits and smart manufacturing.

The current automotive industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. Amid the surging waves of electrification and intelligence, the logic of product definition has shifted from a "spec race" to "experience-driven breakthroughs". The release of over 700 new and facelifted models annually makes it difficult for consumers to discern them individually, meaning only models with distinctive branding and core selling points can stand out. This change forces automakers to increase software investment in R&D, resulting in a surge in code volume and a continuous rise in software costs. At the same time, sales model is fundamentally evolving — moving from traditional B2B distribution to B2C direct connections. Brands such as Xiaomi and emerging players are applying consumer electronics playbooks to challenge the asset-heavy automotive sector, driving a complete restructuring of the marketing funnel — from media placement and lead acquisition to test drives and after-sales service.

Against this backdrop, Lan-You focuses on the large-scale automotive manufacturing system, specializing in integrated digital intelligence services spanning R&D, production, supply, sales, service, and management. Unlike general-purpose IT firms, Lan-You has a long history rooted in the automotive sector, possessing a deep understanding of business processes from Stage 1 to Stage 6, enabling it to build digital intelligence platforms based on a middle-platform architecture that blends both stable and agile states. This "on-site" service capability allows it not only to provide point solutions but also to support cross-organizational and cross-departmental process restructuring and data integration, positioning the company as a trusted long-term partner for numerous automotive manufacturers.

AI technology is comprehensively penetrating the automotive value chain.

On the marketing side, the industry has long been plagued by issues such as an abundance of invalid leads and frequent customer harassment. In response, Lan-You utilizes AI to achieve full-chain optimization, spanning content generation, traffic distribution, and customer interaction. For example, a content operation system leverages large models to instantly generate and automatically distribute content to the main account and thousands of matrix accounts, significantly boosting dissemination efficiency; after a customer leaves contact information during a live broadcast, the system responds in seconds, immediately triggering outbound calls for timely, high-efficiency outreach. The backend further integrates an AI quality inspection mechanism to provide real-time monitoring and scoring of customer service scripts and presentation completeness, ensuring service standardization. In physical stores, Lan-You has implemented an intelligent store management system that identifies customer visit batches and movement patterns through integrated hardware-software solutions, combined with AI voice analysis to assess salesperson performance. At the transaction stage, AI automatically creates WeCom groups and leverages a vast knowledge base to provide precise, consistent answers to customer inquiries, ensuring a seamless user experience.

It is particularly noteworthy that Lan-You deeply integrates marketing and production, connecting the orders and manufacturing systems. By using AI algorithms to coordinate production and sales planning, the system can quickly provide customers with the vehicle's off-line time and delivery cycle, making the bulk purchase experience akin to ordering a fast-moving consumer good. Furthermore, the system utilizes historical user interaction data to enable sales consultants to provide seamless follow-up service, creating a one-stop, concierge-style experience.

In the field of smart manufacturing, although consumer perception is weaker, AI applications have long been deeply integrated into the factory floor. Taking cooperation with Dongfeng Nissan as examples, Lan-You has achieved breakthroughs in multiple critical scenarios using AI: in equipment maintenance, multi-dimensional data like sound print, vibration, and electric current are used to predict the lifespan of reducers, issuing fault warnings up to three months in advance with an accuracy exceeding 70%, effectively preventing production line downtime losses; in quality control, image recognition technology automatically detects whether critical assembly parts are in place, preventing human errors; for sunroof adhesive application processes, real-time video monitoring assesses the continuity of the glue bead, issuing an immediate alarm if interrupted to ensure sealing quality; scratch detection before vehicle off-line, previously done manually by workers with handheld lights, has been upgraded to multi-angle high-definition camera surveillance combined with AI recognition, significantly improving detection efficiency and consistency. In addition, in high-risk operation areas like the electrocoating workshop, the company is exploring the use of embodied robots to replace human labor for cleaning and inspection tasks, thereby enhancing safety standards.

At the smart product level, Lan-You not only offers cloud solutions but is also increasing its investment in on-vehicle smart hardware. The AI assistant showcased acts as a "virtual sales consultant", helping store personnel quickly master new car selling points and guide customer experiences; the in-vehicle multi-modal interaction system can recognize human gestures, voice, and facial expressions, enabling interactive games like "rock-paper-scissors", and gradually realizing need prediction—for instance, automatically playing music to refresh the driver when a yawn is detected. Behind these functions is the company's technical accumulation in model pruning and optimization within low-compute environments, ensuring smooth operation with limited in-vehicle processing power. At the same time, Lan-You is actively participating in vehicle-road-cloud collaborative development, promoting the implementation of national strategies.

Facing globalization, as Chinese automakers accelerate their expansion abroad, Lan-You is concurrently expanding its international service capabilities. It has already built overseas distribution management systems for several automakers and exported the mature domestic 4S dealership management system to Europe, the Middle East, Russia, and other regions. To address connectivity hurdles faced by smart cockpits going global, Lan-You has built an overseas version of its Internet of Vehicles (IOV) platform that complies with local regulations, relying on Amazon Web Services for compliant data storage and localized service delivery, ensuring users abroad can still enjoy the same intelligent experience as in China. In the construction of overseas production bases, the company is participating in the deployment of digital intelligence systems for new factories established by automakers like Changan, facilitating the holistic overseas expansion of management models and digital platforms.

Regarding supply chain resilience, faced with increasing global uncertainty, Lan-You has developed the intelligent, resilient, and scalable Global Logistics Execution System (G-LES), enabling "one-code-to-the-end" tracking of vehicles and parts from the factory gate to overseas production lines, with full process visualization management. The platform integrates AI predictive capabilities to provide hour-level emergency response to sudden events such as lockdowns or tax rate changes, pre-setting multiple alternative solutions for decision-making. Simultaneously, it integrates resources from ecosystem partners, including shipping companies, warehousing, and customs affairs, to form a collaborative network, enhancing global supply chain responsiveness.

Regarding AI applications in the automotive finance sector, Lan-You believes they are still in the early stages, mainly focusing on the optimization of fragmented scenarios. For example, AI is utilized to automatically recognize disparate bank statement files, significantly improving loan review efficiency and reducing labor input. In serving the "credit-novice" population in lower-tier markets, traditional credit data is insufficient, requiring non-traditional data—such as consumption behavior, mobile phone usage habits, and social circles—to supplement the user profile. Lan-You has accumulated over 300 automotive industry-specific financial tags and, through collaboration with government data platforms, incorporates third-party behavioral data within a compliant framework to enhance risk assessment accuracy. In the future, this model will continue to iterate and upgrade in response to evolving requirements for data compliance and model applicability, further necessitating sustained expansion of service scale to continuously refine algorithms.

Overall, Lan-You maintains the strategic focus of "digging deep into a specific field", concentrating on creating advanced AI+ auto digital intelligence solutions for clients. Its core competitiveness lies not in general AI technology itself, but in the business comprehension and scenario penetration capability gained from over twenty years of industry immersion. In the future, as AI transitions from "low-hanging fruit" to deep business integration, this long-term, partnership-style service model is poised to play an increasingly critical role in China's AI+ auto digital intelligence transformation process.

(Source: IAUTO)