BMW Collaborates with Momenta to Launch High - level Driver Assistance Solutions Exclusive to China | Exclusive from 36Kr

Collaborating with Chinese intelligent driving companies for R & D has become a popular way for luxury brands to catch up in the field of assisted driving.

36Kr has exclusively learned that BMW has reached a cooperation agreement with Momenta. They will jointly develop assisted driving software based on large AI models, which will be applied to multiple domestic models, including those of the Neue Klasse.

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

Previously, according to the introduction on the BMW official website, the intelligent driving assistance systems of its on - sale models only had functions such as active cruise control, steering assistance, eye - activated lane changes with speed limits, speed limit recognition, and automatic speed adjustment in some scenarios. They did not support high - level functions such as entering and exiting highway ramps and passing through traffic lights.

A person familiar with the matter told 36Kr that in late 2024, a group of senior executives from BMW headquarters came to China to experience the assisted driving of local brands.

After the experience, the executives realized that BMW's previous model of mainly conducting R & D in Germany and only being responsible for function localization in China could no longer keep up with the development speed of Chinese brands. "So they reported to the headquarters that they should directly recruit high - level assisted driving suppliers in China."

In early 2025, BMW quickly launched a tender for an assisted driving project. Many domestic intelligent driving technology companies participated, including well - known ones like QCraft and DeepRoute - AI.

Ultimately, Momenta won the bid for this project.

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

Before BMW, Momenta had also reached a cooperation agreement with another German luxury brand, Mercedes - Benz, to jointly develop high - level assisted driving solutions in China.

Now, assisted driving has become a core requirement in the Chinese market. On the one hand, new car - making companies like Li Auto and XPeng have already fully rolled out their urban navigation assisted driving (Urban NOA) systems, making them available nationwide. Yu Chengdong even publicly stated that HarmonyOS Smart Mobility has achieved L3 - level intelligent driving capabilities, and everything is waiting for the relevant regulations to be issued.

On the other hand, BYD's models equipped with highway navigation assisted driving (Highway NOA) have dropped in price to less than 100,000 yuan, and Leapmotor has lowered the minimum price of models supporting Urban NOA to less than 130,000 yuan. Enabling more and more affordable models to use high - level assisted driving has become another competition point.

The improvement of the upper limit of capabilities and the expansion of the price boundary have made the technological competition among automakers increasingly fierce. Brands lacking high - level assisted driving will find it difficult to achieve high - quality growth in the Chinese market.

To cope with the fierce market competition, cooperating with local suppliers and accelerating the implementation of functions is a crucial step for BMW. The partnership with Momenta is expected to enhance the competitiveness of the upcoming Neue Klasse models in the Chinese market and maintain 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 control genes and intelligent driving has become the focus of public attention.

Frank Weber, BMW's R & D head, once publicly stated, "BMW will not sacrifice the vehicle's dynamic performance in pursuit of 'hands - off' driving. For example, our steering system still retains direct mechanical feedback instead of being purely by - wire."

In the Neue Klasse models that will apply the cooperation results of BMW and Momenta, key aspects such as vehicle drive, braking, steering, charging, and energy recovery are integrated into a coordinated system.

The assisted driving system can read BMW's chassis data. This enables the vehicle to adjust the suspension damping stiffness in advance when changing lanes automatically or going through curves, to simulate BMW's "precision" in handling.

Currently, Chinese automakers generally pursue a high degree of intelligence in assisted driving, but BMW still adheres to the priority of driving control. This concept is indeed unique.

Investing More in Assisted Driving, BMW Strives to Ensure the Success of Neue Klasse Models

The cooperation results of BMW and Momenta will be applied to domestic models on the Neue Klasse platform.

The Neue Klasse is a new series of electric vehicle models from BMW. In 2026, BMW will launch the first domestic model of the Neue Klasse, the iX3.

Large - cylindrical batteries, an 800V electrical architecture, and the "Panoramic Vision" system are the highlights that BMW has created for the Neue Klasse platform. With the support of new technologies, the cruising range of Neue Klasse models will increase by 30%, and they can achieve a 300 - kilometer range increase with a 10 - minute fast charge.

This will be a key competitive advantage for BMW's electric models. However, some new - force brands have already achieved a 445 - kilometer energy replenishment in 10 minutes of charging, so BMW needs more highlights.

Cooperating with Momenta and increasing investment in the key field of assisted driving is a powerful way for BMW to enhance the intelligent competitiveness of Neue Klasse models.

Currently, the technical route of domestic assisted driving has transitioned to an end - to - end route driven by large AI models. Environmental perception, path planning, and vehicle control are integrated into an ultra - large - scale neural network, allowing the vehicle to understand road conditions and make decisions in a way similar to human drivers.

Compared with the previous rule - based assisted driving systems, the end - to - end route can not only handle more road conditions but also continuously iterate from data to improve the system's capabilities.

Moving from the traditional rule - based route to the AI route is one of the cores of BMW's cooperation with Momenta.

A BMW insider told 36Kr that BMW began to have formal contacts with Chinese assisted driving suppliers in early 2024. "To reach a cooperation, the suppliers first need to meet our warehousing conditions and present mature results and quotes for Germany to make a decision."

In late 2024, after a test drive by the executive team, BMW finally decided to adopt the technical solutions of Chinese local suppliers in new cars. "They realized that the functions developed in Germany could no longer keep up with the progress in China."

BMW's competitor, Mercedes - Benz, has made the same choice. The all - electric CLA long - wheelbase version to be launched in 2025 will also use high - level assisted driving technology from Momenta.

Cooperating with local suppliers has become a shortcut for foreign and joint - venture brands to quickly catch up with the assisted driving level in the Chinese market.

Range - Extender + High - Level Assisted Driving, BMW Aims to Compete in China

According to foreign media reports, to solve the problem of insufficient charging facilities in Europe, BMW is planning to restart the development of range - extender powertrain systems. The first model equipped with a range - extender system may be the sixth - generation X5. At the same time, the feasibility of equipping the second - generation X7 and the sixth - generation X3 with range - extender powertrains is also being evaluated.

However, the decision to restart the range - extender technology is expected to bring new development impetus to BMW in China. Now, range - extender technology has become the growth engine of the Chinese luxury new - energy vehicle market.

In 2024, with its L - series range - extender models, Li Auto's annual sales exceeded 500,000 units. The AITO M9, jointly developed by Huawei and Seres, achieved annual sales of 158,000 units, replacing the BMW X5 as the best - selling model priced over 500,000 yuan. Kang Bo, the vice - president of Seres, once revealed that 90% of AITO M9 users chose the range - extender version.

"We originally wanted to cooperate with Seres on range - extender vehicles, but the process was not smooth," a BMW insider told 36Kr. "Now, the range - extender vehicles are being handled by BMW's German headquarters, and China is also actively cooperating in the R & D. It is estimated that they won't be launched until 2027 - 2028 at the earliest."

China is still BMW's largest single market, accounting for 30% of its global annual sales and being the main contributor to BMW Group's profits. The severe market environment has made BMW realize that it must pay attention to the preferences of Chinese users. However, as a luxury automaker with a century - long history of car - making, BMW has to adhere to its verification and testing bottom line.

Whether it is restarting the R & D of range - extender technology or cooperating with Momenta to develop a new assisted driving system, these are all signals of BMW's active transformation. This century - old luxury automaker has finally identified its direction in the fierce competition and started a new round of market and technology battles.