Chinese autonomous car firms rush into Europe

Chinese self-driving tech firms blocked from the ￰0￱ are moving fast into Europe, opening offices, signing data deals and testing cars on European ￰1￱ has triggered warnings from local rivals about the scale of ￰2￱ China, the world’s biggest car market, more than half of cars sold, including many low-cost models, now come with autonomous driving features as standard. QCraft, a Beijing startup making driver-assistance systems, is already working with Chinese and European automakers and plans to start selling its tech in Europe within two ￰3￱ Level‑4 autonomous buses, which can run for long periods without human control, are already operating in 26 Chinese cities.

Deeproute. ai, another Chinese supplier of Level‑4 systems, says it will build a European data center once it closes the deals now under discussion with carmakers in both regions. Momenta, a leading Chinese autonomous-tech company that supplies Toyota and General Motors, has teamed up with Uber to start testing Level‑4 technology in Germany next ￰4￱ September, Momenta announced it would supply driver-assistance systems for Mercedes-Benz in China starting with the electric CLA ￰5￱ sources allegedly told Reuters that Mercedes is already testing the same technology in ￰6￱ advanced driver-assistance systems are still expensive in Europe, they’re offered cheaply or even free in China, where automakers are using them to win buyers in a price ￰7￱ group Canalys says about 15 million cars will be sold in China this year with Level‑2 systems, more than 60% of the ￰8￱ systems allow automated driving under some conditions but still need drivers to pay ￰9￱ June, Chinese regulators approved nine automakers to run public-road tests of Level‑3 systems that let drivers look away from the road in most ￰10￱ automakers launch low-cost electric cars to counter China Following the ￰11￱ on China connected-car technology under President Joe Biden, European governments have been more open to Chinese vehicles and technology, said Tu Le of consultancy Sino Auto ￰12￱ some carmakers are responding.

Renault’s low-cost brand Dacia on Monday showed off a prototype electric mini-car priced under 15,000 euros ($17,625). The “Hipster Concept” could go into production if the European Union creates a new small car ￰13￱ measures just 3 meters (9.84 feet) and weighs less than 800 kilograms (1,763.7 pounds). By comparison, Leapmotor’s T03 city car, the shortest car now on sale in Europe , is 62 centimeters ￰14￱ prototype is seen as a direct attempt to offer a competitive alternative to cheap Chinese EVs already on the ￰15￱ automakers, who have already won over middle-class drivers at home, are now targeting rich customers who want more personalized features in their ￰16￱ shift is forcing Europe’s premium brands to ￰17￱ carmakers are watching closely as Chinese rivals combine aggressive pricing with cutting-edge software and battery ￰18￱ firms push premium models and customization into Europe Last month, Xiaomi launched a service allowing buyers of its 529,900 yuan ($74,000) SU7 Ultra electric sedans to add custom trim and paint ￰19￱ adds at least 100,000 yuan to the ￰20￱ service covers options like 24‑karat gold hood badges and forged wheel hubs in four ￰21￱ also extends to Xiaomi’s 329,900 yuan YU7 Max SUV, which some compare to Ferrari NV’s ￰22￱ , known as a major smartphone maker, is now directly competing for customers who might otherwise choose Porsche or another premium European ￰23￱ the same time, Porsche is pushing to expand sales of bespoke 911 sports cars in China while facing heavy EV pressure from local brands like BYD ￰24￱ Nio ￰25￱ and its Western peers long relied on strong growth in China with precision-engineered combustion ￰26￱ companies like Xiaomi, BYD, and Nio have changed the ￰27￱ dominating affordable EVs, they’re now going after wealthier buyers.

Xiaomi’s SU7 Ultra undercuts the 918,000 yuan Porsche Taycan but looks very similar to the German flagship ￰28￱ must commit at least 100,000 yuan for personalized ￰29￱ Jun, Xiaomi’s billionaire CEO, also unveiled a smartphone meant to compete with the iPhone 17 at a price more than $100 ￰30￱ shows how Chinese brands are attacking premium segments on multiple fronts, from EVs to consumer tech, while Europe scrambles to defend its ￰31￱ your project in front of crypto’s top minds? Feature it in our next industry report, where data meets impact.