Track Hyper | The Ambitious Vision of Company Nine

Author: Zhou Yuan/Wall Street News

If Ninebot were to stop at its electric balance car business, this technology-driven tech company would not have the benchmark position it has today in the short-distance transportation and service robot industries.

Despite being established for 12 years, Ninebot continues to improve its technology and business framework: the former is the mid-end foundation that supports Ninebot's core competitive advantage - intelligence, while the latter provides continuous momentum for the future commercialization scale of Ninebot.

From a business results and product strength perspective, Ninebot's strategy driven by "self-developed technology and user demand" is rapidly changing the traditional attributes of related industries (such as electric two-wheelers). While enhancing the standardization technological capabilities of the industry chain, Ninebot's entry has also raised the overall technological competitiveness of China's short-distance transportation industry.

The explicit demonstration of the reconstruction of traditional industry technology began in the seventh year of Ninebot's establishment (2019) when it entered the electric two-wheeler market. This event, like Ninebot's acquisition of the pioneer of electric balance cars, Segway, in 2015, is of great significance.

The difference between the two lies in the market significance of acquiring Segway, which refreshed the global recognition of Ninebot itself and the technical brand image of Chinese technology companies, while entering the Chinese electric two-wheeler market has raised the technological level of the entire Chinese electric two-wheeler industry chain.

As the wave of intelligence sweeps everything, where does Ninebot's value lie for B and C ends in the visible future?

Technological Pioneer of the Trend Towards Intelligence

April 12th was Ninebot's brand open day, allowing the market to observe this global high-tech consumer goods company up close.

Ninebot, A-share code "689009", was founded in 2012 by founder Gao Lufeng (current chairman).

This company, with an international perspective, is based in the global market, with a mission to simplify the movement of people and things, making life more convenient and fun. It continues to focus on the design, research and development, production, sales, and service of its main business of intelligent short-distance transportation and service robot products.

From a technological and product structure perspective, Ninebot is committed to becoming a global leader in intelligent mobility capabilities, providing the market with the capabilities of "intelligent mobile people (intelligent passenger tools)" and "intelligent mobile things (transport service robots)". It combines "electricity" with "intelligence" in its "carrying and moving capabilities", materializing into products and services with strong competitiveness and user value.

Currently, Ninebot's products include electric two-wheelers, electric balance cars, electric scooters, all-terrain vehicles, service robots, and the newly entered E-Bike this year.

Among them, electric two-wheelers achieved a revenue of 4.232 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 74.10%, accounting for 41.40% of total revenue; the gross profit margin increased by 3.71 percentage points year-on-year to 19.27% (source: Ninebot's 2023 annual report). It is worth mentioning that the revenue of electric two-wheelers is the highest among all terminal vehicles of Ninebot Ninebot, a company rooted in technology, has made this point tangible and perceptible to the public in the field of electric two-wheelers. This perception stems from the intelligent attributes of Ninebot's electric two-wheelers.

Researchers Carl Frey and Michael Osborne from the University of Cambridge introduced three dimensions when analyzing the substitutability of AI for human labor: social intelligence, creativity, and perception and manipulation capabilities.

Since its inception, Ninebot has actually regarded the intelligentization of vehicles as the most important technological breakthrough direction. Initially, this intelligentization revolved around the interaction with smartphones.

Gao Lufeng, the founder and chairman of Ninebot, told Wall Street News, "From the first self-balancing scooter, we have been very attentive and serious about the interaction with smartphones. Now, the trend of intelligentization in the industry is very obvious."

In Gao Lufeng's cognitive system, intelligentization is not a trendy technical term; the true meaning of intelligentization, or the real value for end users, lies in reducing manual intervention in vehicle operation. This is similar to the analysis results of Carl Frey and Michael Osborne - the value of AI lies in improving the efficiency of human labor.

For example, "Previously, almost 100% of the driving actions of many vehicles required human intervention. Through 'RideyGo!' (instant stop-and-go system) and 'Ninebot Airlock' (inductive unlocking technology), unlocking or locking the vehicle can be achieved through smartphone sensing without the need for a key." Gao Lufeng said, "The purpose of doing this is to minimize the necessity of user manual intervention."

In fact, sensors are also installed on the pedals and footrests of Ninebot electric two-wheelers to automatically sense the vehicle's driving or parking status and make corresponding mechanical actions.

For instance, when a user sits on the seat, the pressure sensor under the seat will "inform" the vehicle that someone is sitting down, and the sensor will automatically prepare the vehicle for starting; combined with the automatic sensing of the vehicle's footrest sensor, such as when the user retracts the footrest, the vehicle can be started directly through the linkage of two sensors with different functions, without the need for the user to take more steps.

Conversely, when the user leaves the seat and retracts the footrest, the vehicle can be automatically locked through sensor linkage sensing, without the need for additional manual intervention by the user.

This is how Ninebot understands the embodiment of intelligentization in user value: the value of intelligent technology lies in allowing users to "perceive" user intentions and achieve a touchless operating experience when using vehicles.

What are the good products of Ninebot?

For Ninebot, the starting point, or core competitiveness, lies in the technological research and application that can provide new user value.

For Ninebot, technology is not the end point. In other words, Ninebot's technological research and development is not simply for the pursuit of technology itself. Gao Lufeng said, "Our technological research and development capabilities will be presented through products, with the core being highly tied to user demands."

This is similar to the characteristics and goals of excellent art: artistic creation is an expression of sensibility and spirituality. In a piece of art, the "flash of inspiration" may be rare, and harmony, counterpoint, and form are tools that magnify the brilliant artistic moments No matter what rules, they all serve art, tools should make way for art, rather than art accommodating tools.

Great artists like Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475.3.6-1564.2.18) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770.12.16-1827.3.26) are great because they constantly challenge the old frameworks and rules of art, always creating new ways of expression. Excellent art always inspires people, rather than just following rules.

Similarly, technology, there is no good or bad technology, only whether it is appropriate.

In terms of business itself, the purpose of technology research and development determines the true value of technology: first, this technology must serve business goals; second, on this basis, it must be able to build strong core competitiveness; third, it must transform traditional industries and enhance the overall technological level of the industry. Like Apple (AAPL.), driving upstream and downstream to jointly build a brand-new ecological value chain.

Company Nine is on a mission to "simplify the movement of people and things, making life more convenient and fun", so things like harmony, counterpoint, musical form, etc. are just tools to magnify the wonderful artistic moments - showmanship, and not the end point of Company Nine's technology research and development. Technology must be combined with the company's mission.

Great business technology companies must also have a strong willingness and ability to continuously challenge the existing industry technology frameworks and rules, and dare to create or have the ability to explore new technology application scenarios. Advanced technology can always provide people limited by traditional technological constraints with a completely new value application experience, rather than engaging in high-intensity internal competition lacking value within the framework of traditional technology.

Gao Lufeng said, "In the electric two-wheeler industry, if you use the traditional way of doing things, you can 'accumulate' a 'new' product in 3-5 months. But our first E-series electric motorcycle product, from project initiation and development, to mass production and market launch, took a full three years."

During these three years, what was Company Nine doing?

"For example, systems like linear ABS anti-lock braking system, TCS traction control system, etc., involving major issues related to protecting user riding safety, this is real value," Gao Lufeng said, "but this kind of technology application was originally very expensive, originally these technologies were applied to high-horsepower motorcycles. Now, we want to apply them to electric two-wheelers priced at 4000 RMB +. This is what Company Nine wants to achieve, and it is our mission: powerful technology, user-friendly products, affordable prices, this takes time."

Company Nine has an evaluation system for the terminal vehicles it launches.

"If we want to launch a product, we have to answer two questions: first, do we feel proud? Will we feel embarrassed? Second, our family - brothers, sisters, and parents, if they buy this car, can they trust it? This is a very important assessment criterion," Gao Lufeng said, "we can confidently launch new products that can definitely answer these two questions to the market."

Technology-driven: Reshaping the Industry Ecosystem

The definition and creator of smartphones, Apple's founder Steve Jobs (1955.2.24-2011.10.5), is considered great not only because Jobs developed groundbreaking products like the iPhone, but also because Apple empowered and aggregated companies throughout the upstream and downstream industry chains, collectively building a new industry with sufficient innovation capabilities to continuously provide iterative user value and new technological systems.

As the saying goes, "One flower does not make spring, but many flowers in full bloom create a spring garden."

Ninebot's path of technological innovation is unique. While Apple acted as the central figure, disrupting the existing smartphone industry, Ninebot's strategy is to "use edge innovation to hit the center" (as per Gao Lufeng).

"We are definitely not talking about competing with others using traditional methods on the original track. We must create opportunities for edge innovation in the industry through innovative methods, allowing us to use edge innovation to hit the center and generate core competitive advantages," Gao Lufeng said. "This includes robot technologies based on algorithms, vision, and more, extending to other categories. This methodology has formed our unique competitive advantage."

"Edge innovation" is the technical direction of the methodology, while intelligence is Ninebot's differentiated technological route.

In terms of electric two-wheelers, Ninebot's proprietary technologies mainly focus on performance, endurance, and intelligence, especially intelligence. In its 2023 annual report, Ninebot stated, "The company has grown into a platform-type technology enterprise, forming three core underlying technologies: smart technology, mobile technology, online + data capabilities, all of which have reached internationally leading or domestically leading levels."

For example, Ninebot has independently developed technologies such as BMS battery safety management, sensorless drive technology, three-electric system technology, autonomous navigation technology, truly intelligent systems for electric two-wheelers, VILO-SLAM2.0 navigation system, EFLS (Exact Fusion Locating System) fusion positioning system, etc., applied to various categories such as electric balance bikes, electric scooters, electric two-wheelers, service robots, achieving effective integration of underlying technologies and unblocking the entire chain of technological innovation from research and development, application to industrialization.

On April 15, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology implemented the "Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Specification" (GB17761-2018). The new regulations require electric vehicles on the road to have a maximum speed not exceeding 25km/h, battery voltage less than or equal to 48V, and vehicle weight less than or equal to 55kg. According to the new regulations, about 70% of the existing 300 million electric two-wheelers in China do not meet the requirements.

According to an iResearch report, in 2022, 49.4% of car owners prefer to purchase electric two-wheelers with intelligent functions. This will become the biggest variable in the transformation towards a new industry structure in this traditional industry, where user preferences for battery life, quality, and power performance are 60.9%, 53.9%, and 52.7% respectively, all higher than the preference for intelligent functions By 2023, the trend of intelligence in the two-wheeled electric vehicle industry has become a consensus - Gao Lufeng said, "The trend of industry intelligence is already clear and clear" - mainly refers to the use of technology such as the Internet of Things, vehicle networking, artificial intelligence, etc., to make electric two-wheeled vehicles intelligent in terms of vehicle intelligence, vehicle control intelligence, and data intelligence products: mainly manifested in safety, energy, and central control systems.

In this wave of intelligence, Ninebot has shown strong technological foresight and market demand insight. A considerable part of intelligent sensing technology has become the overall technological capability of the Chinese electric two-wheeled vehicle industry, beginning to continuously output to individual industrial ecosystems, such as real-time positioning, mobile apps, remote control, etc., has become a standard feature of intelligent two-wheeled electric vehicles.

It is not difficult to imagine that given time, industry participants like Ninebot, which are deeply rooted in technology and user demand, will become the core variables driving the value reconstruction of the Chinese electric two-wheeled vehicle market, reshaping the overall industry landscape, and achieving new industrial upgrade goals.

This is the unchanging value proposition of Ninebot in the past, present, and future, and also the iterative significance of Ninebot for the new value of the Chinese electric two-wheeled vehicle industry