Yu Kai, chairman and CEO of Horizon Robotics.

Yu Kai, an AI scientist who started an autonomous driving project at Baidu, has joined the billionaire ranks after shares of his startup, Horizon Robotics, jumped almost 16% to a record high on Wednesday.

Yu, chairman and CEO of Horizon Robotics, is the company’s largest shareholder with a 13% stake through his family trust and a wholly-owned investment vehicle. Based on his stake, Forbes estimates his net worth to be just over $1 billion.

The 47-year-old entered the three-comma club less than a week after Beijing-based Horizon Robotics went public in Hong Kong. Last Thursday, the company debuted on the Hong Kong bourse after raising HK$5.4 billion ($695 million) in the city’s largest initial public offering so far this year.

Yu cofounded Horizon Robotics in 2015 with ex-Baidu chief R&D architect Huang Chang and associate director Tao Feiwen. The company develops both the software and hardware for assisted and autonomous driving systems. Its most advanced system is called Horizon SuperDrive, which as per........

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