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Leapmotor to launch smart driving R&D team in Europe

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Plans upgrade to equip B10 with L3-equal features in China

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end-2025

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To apply for Chinese regulatory approval for the OTA

upgrade

BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) - Stellantis' ( STLA )

Chinese partner Leapmotor plans to roll out vehicles

equipped with its smart-driving technologies in Europe next

year, the company's senior vice president said on Wednesday.

That is the first timeline announced by a Chinese automaker

for advanced driver-assistance technologies outside China and

comes as the manufacturers scramble for an edge in the

hyper-competitive market for EVs and long-range hybrids.

Leapmotor will launch a research and development team in

Europe that will focus on algorithm training for self-driving

systems based on data collected from roads there, senior

vice-president Cao Li told Reuters. Cao did not say where that

development team would be based.

"The biggest challenge, I think, is that overseas road

conditions and traffic rules are different from those in China.

We need to have a lot of data and to understand local

regulations to adapt to local road conditions for localised

training," Cao said.

Chinese automakers led by BYD are

racing to launch affordable EVs capable of autonomous highway

driving and parking assistance.

Zeekr and Xpeng ( XPEV ) have announced plans to

sell cars with Level 3 autonomy - systems that allow the vehicle

to drive itself as long as the driver remains ready to take over

when prompted.

Leapmotor also plans to make an update by the end of the

year to equip its new B10 crossover with urban navigation

autopilot features, which Cao described as "equivalent to what's

traditionally known as L3".

Cars with Level 3 autonomy allow drivers to take their hands

off the steering wheel while more limited Level 2 capabilities,

such as Tesla's current system, require drivers to be

ready to take over with hands on the wheel.

Earlier this month, Leapmotor began pre-sales of the B10 in

China with a starting price of 109,800 yuan ($15,115). A variant

with lidar and urban navigation is priced from 129,800 yuan

($17,870).

The planned B10 upgrade will be delivered via over-the-air

software updates, Cao said. That will be subject to review by

China's industry ministry and new rules mandating autonomous

driving-related OTA upgrades to be subject to regulatory

approval.

"We have to apply for the approval at least one to two

months prior to the upgrade," Cao said.

Tesla said on Monday it would release its smart

driving-assistance feature in China once it has completed

regulatory approval, following complaints that a limited-time

free trial of its Full Self-Driving service had been temporarily

paused.

In 2023, Stellantis ( STLA ) invested $1.6 billion and acquired a 21%

stake in Leapmotor. The two automakers formed a joint venture,

Leapmotor International, in which Stellantis ( STLA ) holds a 51% stake.

Stellantis ( STLA ) and Leapmotor favour Spain for production of the

B10 model for the European market from next year, Reuters has

reported.

European automakers Volkswagen and Mercedes

have been working with suppliers on advanced driving

assistance systems for their home markets.

Volkswagen said on Tuesday it would collaborate with Valeo

and Mobileye as it deepens its network of suppliers to develop

assisted and autonomous driving. Mercedes has teamed up with

Momenta and Nvidia ( NVDA ) to develop such capabilities.

Tesla is also aiming to roll out its Full Self-Driving

software in Europe this year.

A second model under the Leapmotor "B series" will be

introduced during the Shanghai auto show in April, Cao said.

($1 = 7.2644 Chinese yuan renminbi)