GM Announces $300 Million Investment in Chinese Startup Momenta

General Motors has announced that it will invest $300 million in Momenta. The funding is aimed at accelerating the development of next-generation self-driving technologies for future GM vehicles in China. 

Julian Blissett is executive vice president of General Motors and president of GM 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,” said Blissett.

Xudong Cao is CEO of Momenta. 

“Momenta is committed to developing breakthrough artificial intelligence solutions to push beyond the frontier of possibilities today and significantly improve personal mobility experiences. Together with GM, we will jointly invest in autonomous vehicle technologies to enhance driving safety, convenience and efficiency,” said Cao.

Leader for a Sustainable Future

GM is trying to become a leader for a more sustainable future by increasing its investment and developing a highly-integrated plan. 

Back in June, the company announced it’s investing $35 billion in engineering and capital in EV and AV technology from 2020 to 2025. GM will also expand its design and engineering facilities for EC and AV development in China, which will increase its capacity to deliver over-the-air software updates through the company’s Vehicle Intelligent Platform and 5G connectivity services. The company is preparing to release its global Ultium Platform. 

On top of all of this, GM is also working with various companies across the globe, such as Momenta, in order to expand its technology capabilities and support a wide range of consumer choices based on different populations. The company will deploy launch timing in China for the next-generation advanced self-driving technologies, with more details being shared closer to production.

Momenta is looking to continue leading in the field of autonomous driving technology and solutions, and the company’s goal is to save one million lives, save 100% driving time, and double the logistics and mobility efficiency in the next ten years.

Momenta has combined a data-driven approach to quickly iterate algorithms in order to create a scalable path toward fully autonomous driving. It has also developed a product strategy that focuses on both mass-production-ready highly autonomous driving solutions and a driving solution that targets full autonomy. 

Who is Momenta?

Momenta is a leading autonomous driving technology company that offers multiple solutions for driving autonomy. The company was founded in 2016, and it went on to establish strategic partnerships with leading global OEMs, such as SAIC, GM, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota. It also developed partnerships with tier-1 suppliers like Bosch in order to develop and deploy their technologies across a variety of mobility use cases. 

As of March 2021, the company has raised $700 million from strategic automotive partners and financial investors like Temasek and more. The General Motors announcement of additional funding of $300 million came back on September 23, and the company plans to release more information on their latest series C funding round at a future time.