Foton Brand Day Lands Four Strategic Breakthroughs: "Cangqiong" Autonomous Driving Architecture, Galaxus R9 Americas Debut, and a Complete New-Energy Lineup

Beijing, 28 August 2026 — Foton AUV's Brand Day and new-product launch, staged at the company's X Lab, brought together more than 600 guests from the ranks of industrial investors, core customers, supply-chain partners, dealers and the media. Four strategic outcomes were delivered in a single event:

• The Cangqiong intelligent-driving product architecture platform was officially released, completing Foton's commercial-vehicle intelligence stack;
• The Galaxus R9 premium heavy truck landed in the Americas market, taking a Chinese-built flagship into direct competition with established European brands;
• The Lefu V7 MPVan made its world debut, creating an entirely new vehicle category;
• The Cavan Xinghai new-energy flagship heavy truck went on sale, closing the gap in medium- and long-haul electrified trunk logistics.

Together — iterative intelligent technology, a global market breakthrough and the completion of the new-energy product ladder — they reinforce Foton's position at the head of China's commercial vehicle industry and provide concrete support for the sector's intelligent, green and globalised high-quality transition.

A Decade of Autonomous Driving R&D: Cangqiong A/B/C Opens the Era of Scaled Commercial Intelligence

At the event, Tian Juntao, Chief General Engineer for intelligent-driving system development at Foton AUV, gave a detailed walkthrough of the Cangqiong intelligent-driving product architecture platform — a milestone that moves Foton's comprehensive intelligentisation strategy into a new phase of systematised, branded and scaled implementation.

In April this year, Foton unveiled "Cangqiong" at the China National Convention Center in Beijing — the commercial vehicle industry's first large-model-based, full-domain intelligent brand — covering two core business domains, intelligent driving and the intelligent cockpit, and establishing a complete technology foundation for commercial intelligence.

The timing reflects a structural inflection point in China's intelligent-driving industry. The rapid popularisation of driver assistance in passenger vehicles, mounting cost-reduction pressure across logistics, and the ageing of the commercial-vehicle workforce combined with a shrinking supply of new drivers are converging to push commercial autonomous driving from demonstration projects towards scaled deployment.

Foton's ability to scale is the product of ten years of continuous investment, delivered in three distinct phases:

Phase	Milestone
2016–2018 Technology exploration	Introduced China's first autonomous driving truck, pioneering intelligent technology exploration in commercial vehicles.
2018–2024 Reserves and scenario validation	Awarded the country's first public-road autonomous driving test plate; completed benchmark demonstration operations including highway platooning and follow-driving and the Donghai Bridge autonomous driving project, bridging R&D and real-world deployment.
2024–2026 Commercialisation	Highway pilot (HWP) products entered batch installation and delivery; application scenarios expanded from freight transport into passenger operations.

With the launch of the Cangqiong brand, Foton has entered a new stage of full-domain普及 — sorry, full-domain adoption — of commercial intelligent driving. Long-accumulated technology assets and an enormous volume of scenario data now constitute the company's core barrier to entry as the industry upgrades.

Why commercial intelligence differs from passenger intelligence

Where passenger-vehicle intelligent driving optimises the driving experience, commercial intelligent driving is judged on operating value — safety improvement, cost reduction and relief of driver workload. Facing the sector's complex duty cycles, diverse vehicle categories and highly differentiated scenarios, Foton has self-developed an industry-specific "5+3+1+N" full-stack intelligent driving technology system, forming a closed loop of "intelligent chassis support — high-computing platform carriage — AI large-model algorithm empowerment — full-scenario application", delivering systematised and iterable solutions for each commercial segment.

On that foundation stand three product architecture tiers — A, B and C — providing graduated coverage from closed sites through city roads and highway trunks to full-domain driverless operation, balancing frontier reserves with today's commercial viability.

Cangqiong A — the strategic reserve for advanced autonomy

Targeting end-to-end driverless operation on highways and open urban roads, Cangqiong A focuses on L3 and L4 capability. It carries a 1,000+ TOPS high-computing platform with deeply fused multi-sensor perception, and uses an AI predictive large model to continuously learn from, generalise across and iterate on complex road conditions and long-tail scenarios. Multiple layers of safety redundancy span perception and positioning, computing and control, power and communications, and chassis actuation, backed by comprehensive fault-degradation strategies. It is scalable across heavy trucks, light trucks, vans and coaches, underpinning future全域 — future full-domain — unmanned scenarios.

Cangqiong B — the mass-production workhorse

Cangqiong B is the human-machine co-driving solution being deployed at volume today, covering highway, national road and urban scenarios. Highway Assist (HWA) and Highway Pilot (HWP) are already in series production, with urban NOA iterating continuously, and the package fits Foton's entire commercial range. To address variable payloads, wide trailer-size spans, differing vehicle envelopes and complex duty cycles, it runs customised perception and planning-control algorithms that adapt precisely to different trailer centres of gravity, turning radii and body boundaries, handling roadworks, night-time glare and close-range lane changes. A scenario-based fuel-saving strategy, combining road prediction with dynamic speed optimisation, improves safety and efficiency simultaneously. Cangqiong B-equipped heavy trucks have now exceeded 3,000 units in series delivery, logged more than 400 million kilometres of safe operation, and recorded zero liability accidents — real-world data that validates the maturity and reliability of commercial intelligent driving.

Cangqiong C — closed and restricted-duty scenarios

Cangqiong C serves industrial parks, ports, mining areas, airports and municipal sanitation. Built on a dedicated intelligent by-wire chassis with scenario-specific calibration, it optimises payload, speed and control logic for each working mode. Deep integration of V2X technology links the vehicle with dispatch, logistics execution and warehouse management systems to form a vehicle-road-cloud integrated operation framework, supporting multi-vehicle coordinated dispatch, remote monitoring and emergency takeover — moving closed-site transport from single-point unmanned driving to fully unmanned end-to-end operation. Fed by the Cangqiong large model, the entire family continues to self-learn from real operating data.

Anchored on the "3040" Strategy: Galaxus R9 Formally Enters the Americas

The Brand Day also disclosed the latest state of Foton's globalisation. Wu Zongtian, President of the Overseas Business Division, presented the "3040" overseas strategy and announced that the Galaxus R9 premium heavy truck had formally landed in the Americas — a decisive step in Foton's comprehensive internationalisation, and the moment a Chinese proprietary premium heavy truck entered the global premium segment to compete head-to-head.

The numbers underpin the ambition. In the first half of 2026, Foton's overseas exports reached 109,000 units, up 39% year on year, with heavy-truck exports growing more than 63% — comfortably outpacing the industry. Behind the growth is a critical leap in model: from shipping products abroad to exporting a system in which technology, brand, supply chain and service advance together.

Following the philosophy of "from one vehicle to one chain", Foton has built a standardised, replicable full-chain overseas operating system across seven core dimensions — product development, supply-chain layout, quality control, after-sales service, financial support and the aftermarket ecosystem among them. Its medium- and long-term target is explicit: by 2030, annual overseas sales above 400,000 units, with new energy representing 30% of the mix. Five implementation paths — scale-driven quality and efficiency, deep regional cultivation, leadership in the new-energy lane, whole-ecosystem service empowerment and global network coordination — are designed to shift overseas business from volume-based exporting to high-value, value-based exporting.

Not an export copy — a purpose-built overseas flagship

The Galaxus R9 is not a lightly re-badged domestic model. It is an overseas-exclusive flagship built on Foton's native Galaxy intelligent architecture, carrying more than 90 proprietary core technologies and a 100-megabit in-vehicle Ethernet backbone, with full-domain OTA support for performance evolution across the whole vehicle life.

For the realities of Americas long-haul trunk routes and mountain terrain, the truck received 28 localisation-specific optimisations: Grammer premium seating, a thickened sleeper berth and an on-board refrigerator for comfort; an intelligent electronic mirror and anti-slip stepped foot-tread for operational convenience. A global connected-vehicle system of "1 technology platform + 6 overseas data centres" enables compliant overseas data operation, intelligent fleet management and predictive vehicle maintenance — a differentiated digital advantage abroad.

Benchmarked against Europe's best — and it won on the numbers

To prove global fitness, Foton sent the Galaxus R9 to an extreme proving ground in Spain, where, strictly under EU ECE regulations and against mainstream European heavy trucks on identical routes, identical loads and identical conditions, it completed comparative real-world testing across mountain climbing, highway cruising and rolling-terrain running. The results: overall performance fully at the international first-tier level, and in the high-frequency highway cruising scenario, fuel consumption 2.16% lower than competing models, with zero-fault operation throughout. The programme demonstrates that China's premium heavy trucks have moved decisively beyond technology-following status to running alongside international benchmarks — and leading on selected dimensions.

Foton has now started a 15,000-kilometre Galaxus R9 experience tour, with the convoy crossing 7 countries and 19 cities across the Americas, covering plateau, desert, rainforest and coastline. Peru's Andean highlands serve as the benchmark test environment, concentrating on high-altitude power delivery, long-descent braking reliability and cornering stability on complex bends, matching the differentiated demands of mining, mountain and infrastructure haulage. The launch ceremony in Peru drew close to 2,000 overseas customers, partners and industry media. Going forward, Foton will continue to build out localised supply chains, service and compliance systems in the Americas, using a model of "global technology R&D plus deep regional adaptation" to raise the voice of Chinese commercial vehicles in the world's premium markets.

Two New Products Complete the Full-Scenario Green Capacity Matrix

Against accelerating penetration of new energy into commercial vehicles, demand for segment-specific and fine-grained products has risen sharply. At the Brand Day, Foton released two strategic new-energy products at once, filling the high-end business and passenger-transport and the medium- and long-haul trunk logistics segments and completing its full-scenario green capacity matrix.

Cavan Xinghai — flagship new-energy heavy truck, on sale

Qin Zhidong, Vice President of Foton AUV and Chairman of Cavan, formally released the Cavan Xinghai and announced pricing. Aimed squarely at the electrification problem on trunk routes beyond 300 km, it forms a "twin star" pairing with the Auman Galaxy heavy truck, completing Foton's energy-and-intelligence product matrix in the heavy-truck segment.

• Built on a dedicated dual BEV/hydrogen platform; pure-electric range above 600 km.
• Industry-first mass-produced 800 V high-voltage liquid-cooled ultra-charging — 20% to 80% in 18 minutes, solving the refuelling-efficiency bottleneck of trunk logistics.
• A 0.28 drag coefficient, intelligent predictive thermal management and a high-efficiency integrated electric drive axle cut combined energy consumption 16% versus class rivals: as low as 115 kWh/100 km on the 6×4 and 105 kWh/100 km on the 4×2, saving operators more than RMB 20,000 a year in running costs.
• Safety: a 1,500 MPa ultra-high-strength-steel cab, a multi-dimensional intelligent protection system and 22 driver-assistance functions.
• Cabin: passenger-car-grade NVH calibration and premium seating for long-haul comfort.
• Pricing: 6×4 350 km+ from RMB 466,000; 6×4 550 km+ from RMB 618,000, supported by more than 500 dedicated new-energy service outlets nationwide and a predictive intelligent maintenance system, plus launch-exclusive benefits.

Lefu V7 — the world's first MPVan

Ai Ziliang, Executive Deputy General Manager of the Cavan Business Unit, unveiled the world-premiere Lefu V7, defining an entirely new MPVan category that fuses passenger-car-level intelligence and comfort with the space advantages of a large van — targeting route-based passenger services, tourism and business travel, corporate hospitality and leisure conversion, and filling the gap in China's high-end new-energy passenger VAN segment.

• Built on the dedicated new-energy Master architecture, calibrated specifically for passenger operations; 83 kWh and 100 kWh battery options, CLTC range up to 536 km, 2C ultra-charging standard across the range with 20%–80% in 18 minutes.
• Six-in-one integrated high-efficiency electric drive: combined-cycle consumption as low as 18.2 kWh/100 km.
• Body: a 68% ultra-high-strength-steel cage structure with 98% galvanised outer panels for a decade of corrosion resistance; multi-stage adjustable air suspension and refined NVH bring idle noise down to 44 dB — library-grade quietness.
• L2 driver assistance and an HD intelligent cockpit with voice interaction, remote vehicle control, fleet management and seamless OTA.
• Warranty and service: powertrain cover of up to 10 years / 1,000,000 km, backed by 460 service outlets nationwide in an all-weather support network.

Next Stop: IAA Transportation, Hanover

With this event, Foton achieved a concentrated breakthrough across three core capabilities — intelligent technology, global footprint and new-energy products — completing the efficient conversion of frontier self-developed technology into scenario-based, commercialised and value-generating form.

Building on years of technical accumulation, Foton will next appear at IAA Transportation in Hanover, Germany this September, bringing globalised products including the Galaxus R9, the Cavan Beacon and the Qimingxing pure-electric light truck, alongside self-developed core battery, motor and control technologies, to present China's commercial vehicle intelligence, green product strength and systematised manufacturing capability to the world market.

Looking ahead, Foton will continue to deepen its three core strategies — comprehensive internationalisation, comprehensive new-energy transition and comprehensive intelligentisation — with technological innovation as the primary driver, iterating technology, refining products and upgrading service as it advances towards a world-class commercial vehicle enterprise.

Note: "Cangqiong intelligent driving" is the name of BAIC Foton's intelligent driving business. References to intelligent-driving technology represent technology-route reserves and scenario validation only; series application of functions at each level strictly follows relevant national and local regulations and is carried out in compliant regions and defined scenarios.

Quick facts

• Event: Foton Brand Day & New Product Launch, 28 August 2026, Foton X Lab, Beijing — 600+ guests
• Four outcomes: Cangqiong architecture platform · Galaxus R9 Americas launch · Lefu V7 world premiere · Cavan Xinghai on sale
• Cangqiong B: 3,000+ heavy trucks delivered · 400 million km safe operation · zero liability accidents
• H1 2026 exports: 109,000 units (+39% YoY); heavy-truck exports +63%
• 2030 target: 400,000 overseas units a year, 30% new energy
• Galaxus R9: 90+ proprietary technologies · 28 localisations · 2.16% lower highway fuel consumption than rivals in ECE benchmark testing · 15,000 km tour across 7 countries and 19 cities
• Cavan Xinghai: >600 km BEV · 800 V · 18 min 20–80% · −16% energy consumption · from RMB 466,000
• Lefu V7: 536 km CLTC · 18.2 kWh/100 km · 44 dB idle · 10-year/1,000,000 km powertrain warranty

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Source: Foton AUV News Centre, 28 August 2026 — "福田汽车品牌日重磅落地多项核心成果 重塑商用车智能绿色全球化新格局" (original Chinese article).
Related coverage on this platform: Foton Cavan Launches "Xinghai" and "Lefu V7" (full product review) · Foton Qimingxing Yunnan highland trial · IAA Transportation full-matrix preview.