General Motors Co. today said it will invest $300 million in Momenta to accelerate the development of next-generation, self-driving technologies for future GM vehicles in China.
“Customers in China are embracing electrification and advanced self-driving technology faster than anywhere else in the world, and the agreement between GM and Momenta will accelerate our deployment of next-generation solutions tailor-made for our consumers in China,” stated Julian Blissett, executive vice president of General Motors and president of GM China.
“Momenta is committed to developing breakthrough artificial intelligence solutions to push beyond the frontier of possibilities today and significantly improve personal mobility experiences,” said Xudong Cao, CEO of Momenta. “Together with GM, we will jointly invest in autonomous vehicle technologies to enhance driving safety, convenience, and efficiency.”
Momenta develops 'flywheel' approach
Since 2016, Momenta said it has focused on “building the autonomous driving brain.” In the next 10 years, the Beijing-based company said it hopes to save 1 million lives, save 100% driving time, and double logistics and mobility efficiency through autonomous technologies.
Momenta said it has taken a “flywheel” data-driven approach to iterating algorithms for autonomous vehicles. The startup said its deep learning software for perception, mapping, and data-driven path planning will enable fuly autonomous driving.
In addition, Momenta said it has taken a “two-leg” product strategy focusing on its Mpilot and MSD (Momenta Self-Driving) systems.
Mpilot is a “highly automated driving full-stack solution for mass production of private cars,” said Momenta. Its core products include Mpilot X and technology for scenarios such as high-speed expressways, parking, and urban areas.
MSD is Momenta's SAE Level 4 autonomous driving product for service use cases such as taxicabs. The company said its flywheel approach enabled it to “effectively solve the long-tail problem of completely unmanned driving.”
In March, Momenta completed Series C financing totaling $500 million, led by SAIC Motor, with participation from Bosch, Toyota, and others. It is working with Toyota on technologies for high-definition mapping and with NVIDIA on autonomous parking.
GM invests in safer, cleaner transport
GM said it “is investing aggressively in a comprehensive and highly-integrated plan to lead the transformation to a more sustainable future, guided by its vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.”
In June, the automaker announced that it is investing $35 billion in electric vehicle (EV) and autonomous vehicle (AV) technology from 2020 to 2025. In China, GM is expanding its design and engineering facilities for EV and AV development
GM is also increasing its capability to deliver over-the-air software updates through its Vehicle Intelligent Platform and 5G connectivity services. The company is also preparing to roll out its global Ultium Platform.
In addition, GM is collaborating with companies around the world such as Momenta to build its technology capabilities and support diverse consumer choices across the globe. GM and Momenta said they will announce the launch timing for the deployment of their next-generation self-driving technologies closer to production.
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