Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will start producing satellites by October this year to offer better positioning and navigation for the vehicles it produces and to take on Tesla owner Elon Musk in terms of satellite-based internet services.
A plant in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, has won the approval from the authorities, said its subsidiary Geely Technology in a statement on Thursday, without disclosing the investment amount. It said production is expected to commence eight months from now as the first piece of equipment has entered the plant, and up to 500 satellites could be produced a year for various commercial operations.
The group, which is the owner of Volvo, unveiled its low-orbit satellite network plan earlier last year. It had planned to launch its first satellites in late 2020, but the plan was put off, said a company representative, without offering a new schedule.
Geely said low-orbit satellites will provide an accuracy of several centimeters, as opposed to that of medium-orbit satellites such as the United States' Global Positioning System, whose accuracy is measured in meters.
"In-vehicle connectivity is emerging as an inevitable trend. As drivers and passengers now want better and better mobility experience, autonomous driving itself needs to be improved accordingly," said the group.
The group started to make inroads into the satellite industry in 2018, by establishing a subsidiary called GeeSpace, which is primarily specialized in satellite development, operation and launches.
In late January, the group kicked off a 4.12 billion yuan ($638 million) satellite internet project in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, and entrusted GeeSpace for the task.
Globally, companies including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Amazon have been launching low-orbit satellites to offer internet services.
