Software-Defined Vehicles in 2026: Software Supply Chain Panorama and Business Models Research
Research on Automotive Software Business Models: Exploration of Token Economy, AI Service Revenue Sharing and Other Businesses
Under the Trend of AI Agents: Exploration of Business Models Based on Token-Anchored Value for OEMs and Suppliers
The automotive software AI Token business model adopts Tokens as the standardized metering and settlement unit for AI services, computing power consumption and data value. It reconstructs the billing, revenue-sharing and value distribution system of in-vehicle AI, and drives the transformation of the automotive industry from the "one-time hardware sales" model to a sustainable profit model of "hardware portal + AI service + Token value circulation".
Judging from the current charging models of vehicle-mounted Agents, OEMs mainly cooperate and settle with suppliers anchored by Token fees, and have not directly charged end users for Tokens.
In April 2026, Amap launched its AI Agent for automotive mobility, debuting on the Li L9 Livis. Amap’s AI is deeply integrated into Li Auto’s in-vehicle infotainment system. Its core breakthrough upgrades vehicle navigation from "passively executing commands" to "understanding user needs and completing end-to-end trip planning", driving the evolution of navigation from a passively responsive "tool" to a proactively predictive "mobility assistant".
The settlement model adopted by both parties is neither the traditional software license fee nor non-recurring engineering (NRE) charges; instead, it operates on a token-based billing basis. Li Auto offers this feature to its users completely free of charge. However, every time a user asks the in-car AI, for example, "What good food is nearby?", the resulting token consumption cost is paid by Li Auto to Amap.
Profit Sharing for AI Services Emerges as a New Business Paradigm for Cockpit Ecosystem Services
Beyond the token economy model, the profit-sharing model for AI services is being explored and trialed by multiple enterprises. Particularly for lifestyle service scenarios, deeply integrated with in-vehicle payment, AI Agents leverage multimodal interaction, ecosystem collaboration and innovative security mechanisms to support a wide range of in-car lifestyle use scenarios, including food delivery, parking payment, ticket booking, EV charging and refueling. Analogous to the App Store, once the scheduling protocol for the automotive Master Agent is standardized, third-party service providers (catering, parking, insurance, financial services, etc.) can directly develop in-vehicle Agent Skills. Users trigger these skills via the Master Agent, and automakers earn a commission on service fees.
In April 2026, Banma Intelligence and Dongfeng R&D Institute jointly announced the launch of the Taobao Flash Purchase food delivery Agent built on Yuanshen AI, making its in-vehicle debut on Dongfeng Tianyuan Smart Cockpit. Users can complete the entire food-ordering process through natural voice commands. The system is capable of understanding ambiguous requests such as “I haven’t had lunch, order me some food”, automatically matching merchants and recommending item specifications, and supporting mid-process modifications to deliver a true one-sentence food-ordering closed loop. The service covers all food categories with automatic stacking of discounts, and delivery times are intelligently linked with navigation. More native Agent services covering audio-video entertainment, travel and leisure will be rolled out in the future. In terms of business model, every time the AI Agent fulfills an order for “food delivery upon arrival” or medicine purchase for the user, Banma Intelligence shares service revenue with backend application partners and automaker, forming closed loop of Agent transaction revenue-sharing service.
Intelligent Chassis Suppliers Explore Pure-Software Supply Models Under the Centralized Integrated Architecture
As the EEA evolves toward a central computing plus zone control architecture, the core of Chassis 2.0 era lies in migrating control software of actuators to domain controllers or central controllers to achieve a higher level of centralized control. Hardware-software decoupling, standardized interfaces, upward migration of algorithms to domain controllers, and the drive-by-wire transformation of chassis actuators with integrated control have become mainstream trends. This drives the shift of intelligent chassis supply from the all-in-one hardware-and-software black-box delivery model toward a white-box delivery model for chassis application-layer software.
Under this new model, OEMs take charge of architecture design and upper-layer software, while Tier 1s supply chassis hardware and bottom-level software, forming a “white-box” paradigm. Automakers can cooperate directly with existing Tier 1 and Tier 2 vendors, and choose to develop software algorithms in-house or through joint development. This frees them from black-box constraints and creates a new networked ecosystem of chassis suppliers. It facilitates hardware standardization and layered hardware-software decoupling to enable white-box acceptance. This transformation helps OEMs strengthen their autonomy and flexibility, and steers the intelligent chassis industrial ecosystem toward greater openness and collaboration. Aligning with market trends, suppliers with solid chassis hardware capabilities including ZF, Bosch Group, Huawei, Trugotech and MatriX Technology have successively launched chassis motion control software system products.
ZF cubiX is one of the world’s first mass-produced VMC solutions and a core software offering for Intelligent Chassis 2.0. It has evolved from the distributed control of braking, steering and suspension in Phase 1.0 to a centralized chassis domain controller in Phase 2.0 built on standardized interfaces and hardware?software decoupling, enabling open software access and hardware cost optimization. Built on a framework architecture, cubiX empowers OEMs to develop custom functions in-house with modularity and scalability, and it has entered mass production on Lotus vehicles. In January 2026, ZF further launched an AI road perception system for chassis applications. It predicts road conditions 10 to 15 meters ahead, completes terrain recognition and mode switching within 0.5 seconds, allows the vehicle to identify different surfaces such as mud and sand, and adjusts modes based on all-terrain control strategies.
In September 2026, the FREELANDER Shenxingzhe 8, the first model under the FREELANDER Shenxingzhe brand, was officially launched. Its chassis leverages ZF’s chassis control technology and AI road perception capabilities. Jointly developed with Huawei perception technology and other partners, the i-ATS intelligent all-terrain system integrates LiDAR and visual perception with vehicle powertrain and chassis control. This enables the vehicle to adapt suspension and powertrain strategies to varying road conditions, adding intelligent control while retaining mechanical off-road performance.
Software-Defined Vehicles in 2026: Software Supply Chain Panorama and Business Models Research
Research on Automotive Software Business Models: Exploration of Token Economy, AI Service Revenue Sharing and Other Businesses
Under the Trend of AI Agents: Exploration of Business Models Based on T...
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