Robots weld bodyshells of cars at a workshop of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto Inc. in Changzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan. 10, 2024. (Xinhua/Ji Chunpeng)
Building on their stellar performance last year, Chinese automakers have maintained strong momentum in 2025, rolling out new technologies at a rapid pace to drive industry-wide upgrades and stay ahead in the global competition.
Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO on Tuesday announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with CATL, the world's largest battery manufacturer, to build the world's largest and most advanced battery swapping network for passenger vehicles. The two companies will also deepen collaboration in standardizing industry technologies, as well as in capital and business operations.
At the ongoing Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) 2025 in California, Jia Peng, head of intelligent driving technology research and development at Li Auto, unveiled progress on the company's next-generation MindVLA technology. He said that MindVLA will transform cars into intelligent, human-like "drivers" with the ability to listen, see, and navigate seamlessly.
BYD on Monday unveiled its "megawatt fast-charging" technology, which it said will be capable of peak charging speeds of 1,000 kilowatts. It will be the world's fastest charging speed for mass production, enabling a 5-minute charge for 400 kilometers of range.
Notably, with the rapid rise of domestic large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) models, China's smart driving sector - leveraging its advantage in industry-wide collaborative innovation - is actively embracing AI and accelerating the evolution of advanced assisted driving toward full autonomy.
Starting this month, brands like Geely's high-end series Galaxy, Leapmotor, and the Huawei-backed Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance have unveiled new intelligent models.
Smart driving technology has become a key battleground for automakers, serving as a direct measure of their technological strength and market competitiveness, Zhang Xiang, director of the Digital Automotive International Cooperation Research Center of the World Digital Economy Forum, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Critical factors include computing power, the end-to-end application of large-scale AI models, and advancements in urban and highway Navigate on Autopilot. Automakers that excel in these areas are better-positioned to gain a competitive edge and drive sustained sales growth, Zhang said.
The continuous integration of intelligent technologies is accelerating the transformation of the vehicle market, signaling that 2025 will be a year of full-scale upgrades for China's auto industry. Investment opportunities and market momentum are also on the rise, analysts of China Securities wrote in a note.
This year's Government Work Report vowed to support the extensive application of large-scale AI models and vigorously develop new-generation intelligent terminals and smart manufacturing equipment, including intelligent connected new-energy vehicles (NEVs), AI-enabled phones and computers, and intelligent robots.
The government has positioned intelligent connected NEVs as the next generation of smart terminals, marking a paradigm shift in the auto industry from mere transportation tools to intelligent mobility spaces, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Through the integration of domestic chips, cloud computing, and a collaborative supply chain - along with the digital infrastructure of smart cities and transportation systems - cars are evolving into intelligent terminals connecting people, vehicles, and roads. This transformation is driving the push toward a 50-percent NEV penetration rate by 2030 and a 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) data economy, Cui said.
