Autonomous driving firm Momenta is stepping up its push to go global, as intelligent transportation solutions offered by Chinese companies turn pivotal for global automakers navigating the industry’s shift toward smart driving, Chief Executive Cao Xudong said. Through deep collaborations with overseas automotive companies, Chinese smart driving companies are not only introducing advanced technologies to more countries and regions, but are also refining their offerings through localization and customized solutions, Cao said. Momenta has shown impressive growth in the number of vehicle models it has partnered on. To date, Momenta’s intelligent driving solutions have been selected for over 160 vehicle models, partnering with many leading global automakers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and General Motors. “It takes five to seven years to win the trust of major foreign carmakers,” Cao said, referring to the stringent, multiphase validation process, particularly for functional safety. Cao noted that successfully serving major local automakers like SAIC and GAC, while tackling China’s complex road conditions and massive data streams, has provided a solid foundation for subsequently meeting international standards.
Feng Xingya, Chairman of GAC, said: “Safety is the bottom line for auto enterprises, and this bottom line cannot be compromised. In the next three to five years, I believe we are likely to witness a tipping point for rapid growth in the development of autonomous and intelligent vehicles.” Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at the 2025 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference earlier this month that his Ministry will formulate a new development plan for the upcoming 15th Five Year Plan period (2026-30), covering intelligent connected and new energy vehicles. “We will support technological innovation, promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the automotive industry, and accelerate breakthroughs in next-generation architectures and high-performance chips,” Xin said.
China has already built a comprehensive ecosystem spanning smart cockpits, autonomous driving, and cloud connectivity, with more than 60% of new passenger cars now equipped with combined driver-assist functions. Momenta has chosen a mass production-oriented approach, diverging from traditional Robotaxi companies that rely on costly retrofitted vehicles, sensors, and computing power. This involves leveraging mass-produced sensors to gather vast amounts of data to identify high-level autonomous driving cases, and utilizing mass-produced chips to reduce the cost of large-scale deployment. Cao said that Momenta, “among industry suppliers, is likely to be the first enterprise to reach a scale of tens of millions of units,” the China Daily reports.
