General Motors will invest $300 million in Momenta, a China-based self-driving startup, to accelerate the use of autonomous technology in future GM vehicles for the Chinese market.
According to GM, Chinese customers are embracing electrification and self-driving technology faster than other parts of the world. The agreement will accelerate GM’s push into autonomous vehicles that will be tailor made for customers in China.
GM is part of the transformation taking place in the automotive market that is moving quickly toward making electric vehicles (EVs) the primary models being sold. The company in January committed to phasing out gas and diesel vehicles by 2035 and would up its investment in self-driving and electric cars.
GM is aggressively investing in next-generation technologies including $71 million for new mobility concepts outside of passenger vehicles as well as developing a new EV charging service for its customers as more EVs come online.
In June, GM said it would invest $35 billion in engineering and capital in EV and autonomous technologies from 2020 to 2025. In China, GM is increasing its capability to delivery over-the-air software updates via GM’s Vehicle Intelligent Platform and 5G connectivity services.
Momenta has a goal to save one million lives, save 100% driving time and double the logistics and mobility efficiency in the next 10 years.
Momenta’s self-driving technology is a data-driving approach to quickly iterate algorithms and it has a strategy focusing on mass production and driving solutions targeting full autonomy.