Haomo.AI Reportedly Halts Operations - What Ops Leaders Need to Know
Haomo.AI, the autonomous driving startup backed by Great Wall Motor, has reportedly suspended operations until further notice. Employees were told on Nov. 22 they were on leave starting the next day, and internal work chats were muted. No official reason or restart date has been given.
Key facts at a glance
- Headcount: ~300 employees across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Baoding.
- Payroll stress: Beijing staff said in August salaries were in arrears by two months.
- Unconfirmed driver: Employees believe a valuation adjustment mechanism (VAM) shortfall led to litigation and potential account freezes. The company has not publicly responded.
- Scope: Intelligent assisted driving for passenger vehicles, last-mile autonomous delivery, and smart hardware.
- Status in market: Among the first in China to mass-produce Level 2 and above systems alongside peers like Momenta, QCraft, and DeepRoute.
- Capital: Seven financing rounds; investors include Great Wall Motor, Shougang Fund, GL Ventures, and Jiuzhi Capital; valuation reportedly above USD 1 billion. Latest fundraising was in December 2024.
- Control: Great Wall Motor's Chairman Wei Jianjun is the actual controller with a 37% stake.
- Prior signals: Media reports last October suggested an IPO pause (denied at the time). In November, the company confirmed layoffs, calling them normal organizational adjustments.
Why this matters for Operations
This is a classic stress event: payroll delays, sudden leave notices, and muted comms. If you rely on Haomo.AI for software, modules, or services, you're facing potential delivery gaps, support interruptions, license risks, and delayed maintenance windows.
For teams managing programs tied to ADAS/AV roadmaps, any pause can ripple into certification timelines, vendor qualification, and safety validation cycles. Financial constraints (especially if accounts are frozen) can stall everything from cloud costs to supplier payments.
Immediate actions for customers and partners
- Stabilize critical systems: Secure backups, documentation, and local copies of tools, SDKs, maps, and calibration data. Review license terms for escrow or source-code access.
- Activate contingency plans: Switch to validated fallback software versions; evaluate short-term vendor-neutral alternatives for testing and simulation to keep QA moving.
- Lock in communication paths: Identify non-chat channels to reach account managers or exec sponsors. Keep written records of support and warranty requests.
- Reassess delivery timelines: Update program milestones, inform internal stakeholders, and adjust acceptance criteria for upcoming releases.
- Financial exposure check: Pause prepayments; reconcile open POs; prepare for chargeback or offset options if services stop.
- Vendor portfolio review: If needed, begin parallel evaluations of other L2+ providers (e.g., Momenta, QCraft, DeepRoute) to de-risk long-running programs.
Guidance for suppliers
- Credit control: Move to milestone-based invoicing and shorter payment terms until visibility improves.
- Collateral and returns: If you've issued loaned equipment or test assets, audit location and condition; prepare retrieval logistics.
- Contract triggers: Review clauses for suspension, material adverse change, and termination; draft notices but avoid premature escalation if remediation is possible.
People Ops considerations
- Employee support: If you manage teams embedded at Haomo.AI sites, secure access badges, retrieve equipment, and confirm payroll and benefits status.
- Communication rhythm: Provide daily updates, even if unchanged. Silence multiplies churn risk and increases legal exposure.
- Retention risk map: Identify critical talent and knowledge nodes; prep transition playbooks in case of extended pause or asset sale.
Signals to watch over the next 1-2 weeks
- Official company statement with a concrete restart plan or restructuring outline.
- Court filings indicating account freezes, creditor actions, or restructuring proceedings.
- Payroll catch-up or continued arrears.
- Board or management changes, or a formal bridge financing announcement.
- Customer communications about support continuity, SLAs, and patch schedules.
- Asset sale, licensing deals, or tech transfers to affiliated entities.
Background and context
Haomo.AI spun off from Great Wall Motor in 2019 and focused on assisted driving features, last-mile autonomous delivery, and related hardware. Great Wall Motor remains the key backer and controller.
If you need a quick refresher on automation levels, see the SAE overview of driving automation levels (SAE J3016 summary). For context on the parent company, here is an overview of Great Wall Motor.
Operator's checklist (copy-paste and execute)
- Inventory all dependencies on Haomo.AI (software, firmware, maps, tooling, test rigs).
- Secure backups and access credentials; confirm license continuity and support channels.
- Freeze new spend; reconcile outstanding invoices and POs.
- Run a tabletop scenario: service outage, security patch delay, and certification slippage.
- Kick off vendor alternatives evaluation to protect key milestones.
- Stand up a daily internal sitrep until status stabilizes.
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