Korea Provides Tariff Relief For Autonomous Driving
As part of its emergency support measures for its auto industry the Korean government set a goal to designate autonomous driving technology as a national strategic technology so that companies investing in that field and doing research and development on that end can receive more tax credits. The government plans to draft a roadmap for the country’s autonomous driving technology in the first half of this year, targeting 2027 to commercialize level 4 autonomous driving vehicles.
Nissan next-generation ProPilot to use Wayve
Nissan will use Wayve AI driver software with Lidar for its next generation ProPILOT technology. Nissan’s current system is a hands-on driver assist system with ACC and LKA technology that can also be linked with the navigation system to predict the road ahead. ProPilot Assist currently costs $3,200 as part of a tech package (for the2025 Nissan Rogue). The new system is set to launch in 2027 and will still be an L2 system.
Waymo Kicks off Testing in Japan
Waymo held a launch event in Japan as it plans to start testing with Nihon Kotsu (Tokyo’s largest taxi company), This is Waymo’s first operation on public roads outside of the US, With an aging population and shortage of drivers, Japan is a large potential market for robotaxi service. Separately, Waymo also announced a partnership with Waymo to explore collaboration on autonomous driving technologies that includes plans to integrate Waymo technology into Toyota vehicles. Waymo has integrated its technology into Stellantis, Jaguar, Hyundai and Zeekr vehicles and it makes sense to also work with a Japanese OEM as it rolls out service in Japan.
iMotion wins new program for automated parking system
iMotion won a new production program with a volume China OEM for its automated parking system. iMotion. Was founded in 2016 a and makes iintelligent front camera modules and domain controllers. iMotion has been used in many Chery, Geely and Zeekr models as well as by Volvo and Polestar.
Horizon Robotics and VW expand collaboration
VW will use Horizon’s SuperDrive solution in China. VW had already stared to develop hardware with Horizon’s Journey 6 SoC for an L2+ system scheduled for production in 2026. The SuperDrive system uses the Journey 6P chip that provides more performance for advanced features, More OEMs will use China developed technologies in China as the political environment keeps shifting to favor domestic supply.
Hyundai launches its Pleos software brand
Hyundai launched its Pleos software brand as it focuses on software defined vehicles and stated a goal to deploy L2+ software on all of its vehicles by 2027. Pleos is a proprietary OS that will also form the basis of the 2026 infotainment system and will connect to the cloud for software updates. The platform also allows developers to create in-vehicle apps.
China’s Ministry of Industry and IT rolls out new rules on Autonomous Driving
Following the recent Xiaomei Crash, China’s MIIT has published new regulations for automakers that restrict how OEMs can develop test and market autonomous driving features.
No public “beta testing’ is allowed without official approval. Marketing terms including autonomous driving and intelligent driving are banned. Remote parking, summoning and valet modes are disallowed.
Driver monitoring must make sure that if the driver’s hands are off the wheel for more than 60 seconds the car must slow down or stop.
Frequent OTA updates are discouraged. Emergency updates require a recall process and approval from the State regulator. Any other new algorithm updates must undergo extensive testing before being deployed.
China has been able to create and change regulations much faster than countries like the US where such policies often get tied up in government committees and/or lawsuits for years. This has actually allowed China to speed up development.
QCraft and Luxshare-ICT to co-develop smart driving solutions
Qcraft is a software developer that has already delivered 600K NOA systems is teaming up with Luxshare-ICT to deliver integrated solutions. Luxshare-ICT is ICT a China Fortune 500 co. and Apple supplier who also has expertise is domain controllers. They have previously worked with China OEMs including BYD and Nio.
GM/SAIC and VW partner with Momenta for urban pilot.
GM’s Buick division is working with Momenta on urban pilot solutions. The first Buick/Momenta equipped car is due to be launched in 2H ’25. VW/SAIC also announced a similar partnership with Momenta. Momenta announced extended strategic partnerships with other major brands at the Shanghai auto show including Toyota, Honda and IM Motors.
We contimnue to see an increasing number of not just domestic but also multinational OEMs in China adopt local software solutions.
Baidu Updates Map to support Intelligent Driving
Baidu updated its map software to support auto-pilot systems with 12 million KM of roads mapped and daily static and live real-time updates. Baidu is partnering with BYD and Leapmotor to integrated the capabilities into their vehicles. Baidu already had advanced features such as bus lane reminders, camera reminders and traffic signal timing and is already used by many Chinese OEMs and others such as Tesla.
Wayve expanding autonomous testing to Japan
After raising more than $1B in a series C round last year, Wayve continues to expand testing to more regions. Wayve’s Yokohama test center will all training on Japan’s complex road environments and deepen collaboration with local OEMs.
Inyo Mobility to use Aeva Lidar
Inyo Mobioity, a German Robo Shuttle company has selected Aeva Lidar for its tobo shuttles. Inyo is focused on last mile solutions. Inyo has performed demonstration rides at Paderborn Airport in Germany, but as a start-up may struggle to compete with some of the larger vendors like ZF in this space.
VW and Uber Partnership
Uber and VW will bring the ID.Buzz autonomous shuttles to Los Angeles in 2026 with plans for thousands of autonomous vehicles across the US by the 2030s. Uber is partnering with multiple robotaxi providers as ride share services transition to autonomy and Uber aims to remain the leading ride hailing service in the US and Europe.
Glydways Announces Autononomous Shuttle Project at San Jose Airport
San Jose is planning an autonomous shuttle connector service from the airport to the Diridon railway station. Glydways solution involves a network of personal shuttles or pods, that would operate on the predefined route. They also have projects in Atlanta and Conta Costa County in the bay area. An increasing number of US cities are planning roll outs of similar autonomous shuttle projects as alternatives to busses and other public transit options, with a goal of cleaner, cheaper and more flexible operations. West Palm Beach also announced a recent project with Guident.
DiDi and GAC Showcase L4 Robotaxi
DiDi and GAC showcased a new L4 robotaxi at Auto Shanghai that will start pilot testing in Guangzhou and Bejing in 2026. The car is purpose built for L4 and has 33 sensors including multiple Hesai lidars. The China robotaxi market is projected to reach more than $55B by 2030 and many OEMs are racing to capture a slice of that.
DeepRoute.ai and Qualcomm Collaboration
DeepRoute.ai will use Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride for future lidar and vision only based ADAS systems. This gives automakers another alternative to Nvidia and Horizon Robotics hardware for NOA and other functions. Qualcomm has done well with US and EU OEMs and this partnership puts them in a stronger position in China.
NXP Introduces more powerful radar processing
NXP introduced a new imaging radar processor (S32R47) based on 16nm FinFET technology delivering up to 2X the performance of the previous generation solution as well as lower cost and power. The new SoC can process three times more antenna channels in real-time versus today’s production solutions enabling high resolution 4D imaging radar for next generation L2+ to L4 systems.
