Bmw partners with momenta to launch china-specific advanced driver assistance system

Collaborating with Chinese intelligent driving companies for research and development has become a popular path for luxury brands to catch up with assisted driving.

36Kr exclusively learned that BMW has reached a cooperation with Momenta to jointly develop driver assistance software based on AI large models, which will be applied to several domestic models, including the new generation.

According to 36Kr, this set of assisted driving solution is specifically developed for the Chinese market and will support full-scenario, point-to-point navigation assist driving functions. In the future, it will be able to achieve cross-city transportation from parking out of a space, through urban areas, highways, and back to parking into a destination space.

Before this, in the introduction on the BMW official website, the intelligent driving assistance systems of its models for sale only included functions such as active cruise control, steering assistance, eye-guided lane changing with speed limits, speed limit recognition, and automatic speed adjustment in certain scenarios. It does not yet support advanced functions such as highway on and off ramps and traffic light navigation.

According to informed sources, by the end of 2024, a number of senior executives from BMW headquarters came to China to experience the assisted driving of local brands.

After experiencing it, the executives realized that BMW's previous model of primarily conducting research and development in Germany while China was only responsible for localized functions had made it difficult to keep up with the development speed of Chinese brands. "So they reported to headquarters and decided to directly recruit high-level suppliers for assisted driving in China."

At the beginning of 2025, BMW quickly launched a bid for its assisted driving project, with several domestic intelligent driving technology companies participating, including Liuzhou Zhihang and Yuanrong Qihang, among other popular assisted driving technology companies.

Finally, Momenta won the bid for the project.

Momenta is a Chinese autonomous driving company founded in 2016, which has invested in both production-level assisted driving and autonomous robotaxis. Currently, Momenta has established partnerships with over a dozen global automakers, with more than 100 mass-produced models.

Before BMW, Momenta had also partnered with another German luxury brand, Mercedes-Benz, to jointly develop advanced driver assistance solutions in China.

Today, advanced driver assistance has become a core demand in the Chinese market. On one hand, new car manufacturers like Li Auto and Xiaopeng have already fully rolled out their urban navigation assistance (Urban NOA), making it available nationwide. Yu Chengdong even publicly stated that HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving has achieved Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities, and everything is just waiting for the relevant regulations to be released.

On the other hand, BYD's models equipped with high-speed navigation assistance (Highway NOA) have seen prices drop to below 100,000 yuan, while Leap Motor has reduced the minimum price of its models supporting urban NOA to below 130,000 yuan. This has allowed more lower-priced models to adopt advanced driver assistance, becoming another competitive point.

The improvement of capability limits and the expansion of price boundaries have made the technological competition among car manufacturers increasingly intense. Brands lacking advanced driver assistance systems will find it difficult to achieve high-quality growth in the Chinese market.

To cope with fierce market competition, collaborating with local suppliers and accelerating the implementation of functions is a key step taken by BMW. The partnership with Momenta is expected to enhance the competitiveness of the upcoming new generation models in the Chinese market, maintaining BMW's continuous growth momentum and market share.

For a brand like BMW, which is known for its handling and performance, how to balance the brand's driving gene with intelligent driving has become a focal point of public attention.

BMW's head of development, Frank, has publicly stated, "BMW will not sacrifice vehicle dynamics for the sake of 'letting go.' For example, our steering system still retains direct mechanical feedback rather than being purely drive-by-wire."

In the upcoming new generation models that will apply the of the collaboration between BMW and Momenta, key aspects such as driving, braking, steering, charging, and energy recovery are integrated into a coordinated system.

The assisted driving system can read the chassis data of BMW, allowing the vehicle to adjust the suspension damping hardness in advance during automatic lane changes and cornering, simulating the "precise feel" of BMW's handling.

Currently, Chinese car companies generally pursue high levels of intelligence in driver assistance systems, but BMW still insists on prioritizing driving control. This philosophy is indeed unique.

Enhancing assisted driving, BMW ensures the new generation models.

The cooperation results between BMW and Momenta will be applied to domestic models on the new generation platform.

The new generation is a series of models based on BMW's all-new electrification platform. In 2026, BMW will launch the first domestically produced model of the new generation, the iX3.

The large cylindrical battery, 800V electrical architecture, and "Horizon Panoramic Display" system are highlights that BMW has developed for the new generation platform. With the support of new technologies, the range of new generation models will increase by 30%, allowing for a fast charge that adds 300 kilometers of range in just 10 minutes.

This will be a key competitive advantage for BMW's electric vehicle models, but some new force brands have already achieved a charging time of 10 minutes for a range of 445 kilometers, and BMW needs more highlights.

Collaborating with Momenta to enhance capabilities in the key area of assisted driving is a strong approach for BMW to boost the intelligent competitiveness of its new generation models.

Currently, the domestic advanced driving assistance technology route has transitioned to an AI large model-driven end-to-end approach. Environmental perception, path planning, and vehicle control are integrated into a super-large-scale neural network, allowing vehicles to understand road conditions and make decisions in a manner close to that of human drivers.

Compared to past rule-based assisted driving systems, end-to-end approaches can not only handle a wider range of road conditions but also continuously iterate from data to enhance system capabilities.

The core of the collaboration between BMW and Momenta is to move from traditional rule-based approaches to AI-driven solutions.

A BMW insider told 36Kr that BMW will officially begin engaging with Chinese advanced driving assistance suppliers in early 2024. "To achieve cooperation, first, the suppliers must meet our entry requirements and provide mature results and quotes for decision-making in Germany."

At the end of 2024, after a test drive with the executive team, BMW finally made the decision to adopt technology solutions from local Chinese suppliers for their new cars, "They realized that the technologies developed in Germany can no longer keep up with the pace in China."

BMW's competitor Mercedes-Benz has made the same choice, as the pure electric CLA long-wheelbase version, set to be launched in 2025, will also feature advanced driver assistance technology from Momenta.

Collaborating with local suppliers has become a shortcut for foreign and joint venture brands to quickly catch up with the level of advanced driver assistance systems in the Chinese market.

Extended range + high-level assisted driving, BMW is about to launch in China.

According to foreign media reports, to address the issue of insufficient charging facilities in Europe, BMW is planning to restart its range-extended power system, with the first model to feature this system likely being the sixth-generation X5. At the same time, the second-generation X7 and sixth-generation X3 are also being evaluated for the feasibility of range-extended power configurations.

However, the decision to restart the extended-range technology is expected to bring new development momentum to BMW China. Today, extended-range technology has become the growth engine of the luxury new energy market in China.

In 2024, with the L series extended-range models, Ideal Auto's annual sales surpassed 500,000 vehicles. The Aito M9, developed in collaboration between Huawei and Seres, achieved annual sales of 158,000 units, surpassing the BMW X5 to become the sales champion among models priced above 500,000 yuan. Seres Vice President Kang Bo once revealed that 90% of Aito M9 users opted for the extended-range version.

"We originally wanted to collaborate with Cyrus on range-extended vehicles, but the process has not gone smoothly," a person from BMW told 36 Kr. "Currently, the range-extended vehicle project is being handled by BMW's headquarters in Germany, and China is actively cooperating in the research and development. It is estimated that the earliest it can be launched is around 2027-2028."

China is still BMW's largest single market today, with annual sales accounting for 30% of the global total, making it a major contributor to BMW Group's profits. The severe market environment has made BMW realize the importance of paying attention to the preferences of Chinese consumers, but as a luxury car manufacturer with a century-long history, BMW must also adhere to its baseline for verification and testing.

Whether it is restarting the research and development of range-extended technology or collaborating with Momenta to develop a new driver assistance system, these are signals of BMW's active transformation. This century-old luxury car manufacturer has finally identified its direction amid fierce competition and has embarked on a new round of market and technological challenges.