Aion, the electric vehicle unit of Chinese automaker GAC Group, has partnered with Momenta for the supply of a Level 2+ advanced driver assistance system, a major client win for the autonomous vehicle startup after previous deals with auto majors including BYD. GAC, a longtime manufacturing partner of Toyota and Honda in China, and Momenta, backed by several car giants including General Motors, Toyota, and SAIC, will together push for a wide release of the Navigated Driving Assist (NDA) function on Aion-branded EVs.
The two companies claimed future production models will be capable of navigating by themselves in complicated and challenging traffic environments, enabled by end-to-end neural networks, a technology advocated by Tesla that takes raw sensor data as input and produces control actions as output. The all-new Aion V crossover, Aion’s first global model presented at the ongoing 2024 Paris Motor Show, will incorporate Momenta’s artificial intelligence algorithms, and its parent is targeting 500,000 overseas sales by 2030.
A growing number of cars models from major automotive groups will now use or have implemented Momenta’s technology for assisted driving functions such as automated overtaking and lane changing, including the Toyota bZ3X crossover, Mercedes-Benz’s CLA class, and SAIC’s IM Motors lineup. Eight-year-old Momenta, headquartered in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, in June received approval for a public listing on Nasdaq from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. [TechNode reporting, Momenta release, in Chinese]