Report on Breakthrough Strategies of OEMs and ADAS Tier 1 Suppliers for Overseas Layout of Intelligent Driving, 2026
Regulatory Breakthrough, Local System Establishment, OEMs Competing for NOA Layout: Overall Trends of China’s Intelligent Driving Overseas Layout in 2026
Research on overseas intelligent driving layout: domestic stock-based competition has peaked, and globalization has become a must for the development of intelligent driving
The Chinese passenger car market has completely ended its incremental expansion cycle and entered the stage of stock-based competition. From 2020 to 2025, the compound annual growth rate of passenger car sales volume in China was only 2.34%, the share of fuel vehicles continued to shrink, the industry price war was normalized, and the involution further intensified. The increasingly saturated local market is no longer able to support OEMs' large-scale production capacity release and long-term high investment in intelligence at the same time. The industry's growth ceiling has emerged.
In sharp contrast to the sluggish growth of the local market, China's automobile exports have achieved explosive growth, evolving from a supplementary business in the past into a second core business pillar. The export volume soared from less than 1 million vehicles in 2020 to 7.098 million vehicles in 2025, a 7-fold increase in just six years; meanwhile, the export penetration rate jumped from 3.9% to 20.6%, and the export business had a compound annual growth rate of 48.14%. Overseas markets have become the core engine supporting the scale layout and growth of Chinese OEMs.
From a global industrial perspective, the next 3-5 years will be a critical window period for the reshaping of the global OEM landscape and the finalization of production capacity and brand echelons. Changan Automobile estimates that the global automotive market is expected to embrace 100 million vehicles in 2030, with the new energy vehicle penetration rate increasing to 45%. The Matthew Effect in the industry will continue to strengthen, the competition threshold will be higher, and distinctive echelons will be formed: for enterprises, the annual sales volume of 3–3.5 million vehicles represents the baseline for survival; the annual sales volume of 5–7 million vehicles indicates robust operational performance; the annual sales volume of 8–10 million vehicles allows them to build global competitive moats.
Reliance solely on the domestic market can no longer help enterprises survive. Global overseas layout has evolved from an “incremental option” into “the core growth engine for OEMs in the next phase of competition”. The leading OEMs are comprehensively switching their development logic from "focusing on China and radiating overseas" to accelerating the iteration to a full-system global group with global R&D, manufacturing, channel and brand capabilities.
Many domestic OEMs have upgraded their strategic anchors: focusing on the domestic market + radiating overseas → accelerating the transformation into global automobile groups with global R&D, manufacturing, channels and brand systems (2026-2030)
BYD aims to become the global leader in scale. It plans to sell over 5 million vehicles globally (more than 1.5 million vehicles overseas) in 2026, and 6 million vehicles in 2027 with a global market share of over 10%. In 2030, BYD will consolidate and enhance its leadership as the world’s No.1 new energy vehicle seller by 2030.
Dongfeng Motor released the "Skyward Sailing" globalization plan in 2026, investing hundreds of billions of yuan in promoting the layout of the entire value chain overseas, following the three-step path of "products go global - production capacity goes global - industry goes global". It aims to sell 5 million vehicles worldwide in 2030, with new energy vehicles accounting for over 70% and overseas sales volume making up 40%.
Changan Automobile has upgraded its "Vast Ocean Plan 2.0" to promote a deep transition from "product trade" to "industrial roots" in terms of overseas business, with the goal of the strategic transformation from a vehicle exporter to a global automobile group. It strives to be among the top ten global OEMs in 2030, with the global sales volume exceeding 5 million vehicles. Its overseas sales target stands at 1.5 million vehicles, with an aspirational goal of 1.8 million vehicles, and it plans to build an overseas production capacity system including 800,000 vehicles.
Domestic intelligent driving is undergoing fierce competition, forcing technology to spill over globally
The domestic intelligent driving industry is enjoying rapid penetration in China, and the market has rapidly shifted from incremental penetration to stock-based competition. The intense involution has become one of the core driving forces for OEMs to deploy in broader overseas markets. Nowadays, intelligence has become a standard feature of passenger cars instead of an option.
Data shows that the market structure has seen a fundamental upheaval: the proportion of vehicle models with NL dropped from 49.6% in 2022 to 21.8% in Q1 2026; during the same period, the penetration rate of L2 and above autonomous vehicle models climbed from 34.7% to 69.8%. Basic L2 ADAS is a fundamental market, while high-end functions such as highway NOA and urban NOA have become the only high-growth segment starting from 2024.
Currently, competition in the domestic intelligent driving market across all price ranges has become saturated. The penetration rate of L2 and above intelligent driving functions has reached 80%–90% in high-end models priced above RMB200,000, and 60%–70% in mainstream models priced between RMB100,000 and RMB200,000. Meanwhile, advanced technologies continue to trickle down. The penetration rate of intelligent driving in entry-level models priced below RMB100,000 rose from 1.6% in 2022 to 16.7% in Q1 2026. Domestic intelligent driving has narrowed its growth space and compressed its profit margins. It has become an inevitable trend in the industry to export technology and capabilities overseas.
The core barriers are highlighted: China’s intelligent driving industry has generational advantages in both technology and industry chain, and boasts global output capabilities
Compared with the European, American, Japanese and South Korean markets, China’s intelligent driving industry has built a three-fold generational advantage spanning technical architecture, engineering and complete supply chain. It stands as one of the few core domestic industries capable of achieving technical export with higher-dimensional superiority to overseas markets.
1. Generational advantage in technical architecture: mapfree end-to-end foundation models deliver paradigm leadership
China is significantly ahead of the world in terms of the popularization and iteration of high-level intelligent driving. China’s intelligent driving industry has fully switched to the mapfree end-to-end foundation model architecture, without depending on HD maps, achieving a technology closed loop featuring low cost, strong generalization and fast iteration. However, mainstream OEMs in Europe and the United States still use the traditional map-dependent architecture, and lag behind in iteration efficiency and scenario adaptability. Currently, major vehicle models such as those of XPeng, Li Auto, and Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) are equipped with mapfree NOA as standard. Huawei said that as of April 20, 2026, the total mileage involved with Qiankun ADS had officially exceeded 10 billion kilometers. As the sales volume of cars increases, the total mileage continues to soar. The algorithm is iterated on a weekly basis, forming dual advantages in implementation efficiency and cost control.
2. Generational advantage in industry chain: the entire chain is independent and controllable, and large-scale cost barriers are built
China is the only country in the world that has a complete intelligent driving industry chain of "sensors - automotive chips - domain controllers - algorithms - simulation & annotation - vehicle integration". It has a short technology implementation cycle, high industrialization efficiency, and unique scale and cost advantages in the world. Core hardware has seen significant cost reduction: the unit price of LiDAR has plummeted from RMB200,000 to RMB1,000, and the unit price of intelligent driving domain controllers has been also down to RMB1,000. Overseas OEMs' high-level intelligent driving layout is highly dependent on China's supply chain, further consolidating China's global intelligent driving industry barriers that cannot be replicated.
ResearchInChina summarizes 4 major insights through in-depth research on the overseas layout and strategic planning of 10 OEMs and 7 Tier 1 ADAS suppliers, as well as intelligent driving configurations of over 20 typical vehicle models in major sales markets such as Europe, ASEAN, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.
Insight 1: L2+ (LCA, excluding NOA) becomes the mainstream standard for overseas intelligent driving layout, with hardware strategies diverging into two routes: "dominating mass market" and "laying hardware foundation for high-end market".
Based on the configurations of 20+ mainstream overseas vehicle models: L2+ systems with LCA have become the core intelligent configuration for overseas markets, accounting for more than 50%, as the main force for differentiated competition in the ASEAN market; basic L2 ADAS serves as a basic cost-effective solution; L1 intelligent driving is only deployed on a small scale in the South American low-end market. A tiered strategy is adopted overall: high-end configurations for ASEAN, L2 dominating the mass market, and minimal basic specifications for South America.
As for product competition, L1 has low functional value and insufficient differentiation, while overseas competitors have generally included L1 as a standard feature. Chinese vehicle models going global use L2+ (here, L2+ vehicle models refer only to those adding LCA to L2 ADAS without NOA involved) as the mainstream entry-level standard. Against the backdrop of increasingly homogenized basic ADAS overseas, LCA has achieved a leap in experience at extremely low marginal cost, becoming crucial for brand premium, while simultaneously laying the hardware foundation for future NOA upgrades.
Against this background, Chinese OEMs have formed two completely different overseas layout strategies for intelligent driving hardware:
?Mode 1: Lightweight ADAS first, high-end functions later (BYD, Chery, SAIC MG, Leapmotor)
Mainstream popular brands pursuing high sales volume adopt a pragmatic strategy of “low-cost market positioning and progressive upgrades”. Overseas vehicle models come standard with L2/L2+ including LCA, but does not carry NOA for the time being. In order to streamline the hardware and strictly control the cost of a single vehicle, priority is given to overseas market distribution and user penetration. After NOA regulations are implemented in the target market, data compliance is completed, and scenario adaptation is mature, high-level intelligent driving capabilities will be gradually unlocked via iterative vehicle models or OTA updates, minimizing overseas certification risks and early R&D investment pressure, and achieving an effective balance between sales volume and profitability.
?Mode 2: Hardware is pre-installed in one step, and software is unlocked in batches via OTA updates (XPeng)
XPeng adopts a forward-looking high-end layout strategy. All its overseas vehicle models come with full hardware specifications without compromise. They are standardly equipped with Turing chips made in China, NVIDIA Orin, 800V high-voltage platforms and MediaTek MT8676, reserving ample computing power and perception redundancy. Only L2+ functions will be enabled at the initial launch of the vehicle models. After completing UN R171 certification, European road tests and localized model tuning, VLA 2.0 will be rolled out via OTA to unlock all-scenario highway and urban NOA in one go. This mode avoids costs incurred by subsequent vehicle model revisions and repeated certifications. Leveraging generational hardware advantages, it secures a premium intelligent brand positioning overseas, breaks away from price-driven cutthroat competition, and builds long-term moats for software iteration and value-added services.
Insight 2: Powertrain architectures are diversified, and EREVs/HEVs stand out as breakthroughs for overseas sales growth in 2026
BEVs are still the main force going overseas, but Chinese OEMs will adopt a full-domain matrix layout of EVs+EREVs+PHEVs+HEVs+fuel vehicles to accurately adapt to the global differentiated market environment. From 2025 to 2026, Leapmotor launched BEVs and EREVs overseas, and Changan unveiled a global HEV model fitted with the BlueCore engine to make up for the shortcomings of overseas products with HEVs.
The overseas rollout of diversified powertrains is an inevitable result driven by three factors: market demand, cost and policies. From the consumer side, battery electric vehicles remain constrained by charging infrastructure, low-temperature performance and long-distance range limitations. Hybrid vehicles offer range anxiety-free driving, low fuel consumption and adaptability to all usage scenarios. From the corporate side, hybrid models built on conventional chassis architectures come with lower marginal costs and better profitability. From the policy side, many countries have relaxed timelines for ICE bans, creating a long-term market window for hybrid vehicles to enter overseas markets. After the hybrid matrix is ??completed, Chinese OEMs can cover different infrastructure, different policies, and different consumer markets around the world.
Insight 3: UN R171 S02 ends the gray zone of overseas intelligent driving layout, and 2027 marks the turning point for global NOA commercialization
In June 2026, the UNECE WP.29 plenary session adopted updates including UN R171 Series 02 for Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS), embracing automatic lane changes in urban areas, roundabout passage, and urban NOA. The world's first mandatory international regulations for urban NOA will be mandatory in the EU at the end of 2026. The new regulations recognize the legal commercial status of urban NOA at the level of international rules for the first time, completely ending the gray zone of ??"no legal basis and locked functions" for high-level intelligent driving systems overseas for many years.
Previously, due to the lack of global high-level intelligent driving regulations, domestic vehicle models generally omitted NOA functions but only retained basic ADAS. With the launch of R171 S02, the industry will form a clear layered approach: the basic L2 ADAS will prevail in best-selling low-priced vehicles, and the certified version of all-scenario NOA will be seen in high-end premium vehicles. 2027 will mark a key turning point for the large-scale commercialization of global high-level intelligent driving.
Global OEMs are simultaneously racing to seize the NOA window period in 2027
XPENG adopts a technology-first strategy to await regulatory clearance. It will launch European road tests in Q4 2026 and complete the global delivery of the second-generation VLA in 2027. Supported by a technology foundation pre-adapted to the new regulations, XPENG will achieve the overseas rollout of fully-featured urban NOA.
Mercedes-Benz plans to launch MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO at the end of 2026 and officially enter the urban NOA arena. It will initially launch urban NOA in core cities in Germany and roll it out comprehensively in 2027. It will realize complex urban NOA based on Orin, marking the European luxury brand’s entry to high-level urban NOA.
Tesla continues to accelerate the global rollout of FSD in 2025-2026, relying on full-domain data iteration to consolidate its overseas intelligent driving base.
Insight 4: Overseas layout of intelligent driving has moved from the 1.0 era of product trading to the 2.0 era of territorial systematization
The one-way trade model was adopted in the 1.0 era: products were finalized domestically, sold overseas, and the lifecycle terminates upon delivery, with no ongoing iteration, localized adaptation or compliance closed-loop. However, urban NOA is a technology heavily bound by scenarios, regulations and data. It cannot be standardized and plug-and-play. Simply exporting products can no longer support the implementation of high-level intelligent driving.
The industry has officially entered the 2.0 era of taking root in overseas markets, extending from “hardware products” to “software + services + solutions”. The core relies on three major local capabilities: local R&D organization, data full-link closed loop, localized technical operation and maintenance, and the construction of intelligent driving infrastructure.
Wherein, data localization is the rigid bottom line of EU compliance: the GDPR and WP29 strictly prohibit cross-border data backhaul training. At the same time, European road rights, road signs, and traffic mixed scenarios are hugely different from Chinese ones, making it impossible to rely on China’s domestic remote parameter adjustment to complete adaptation. Therefore, building a local data center in Europe and building a domestic closed loop of "collection-labeling-training-iteration" is no longer an optional advantage for enterprises, but a necessary prerequisite for the overseas compliance commercialization of high-level intelligent driving. Competition in overseas intelligent driving layout has evolved from rivalry over product strength into systematic competition encompassing overseas R&D ecosystems, data compliance frameworks and localized iteration capabilities.
Case study: Zhuoyu Technology’s strategy in the German intelligent driving market
Since 2025, Zhuoyu has fully implemented its deep localization strategy of "In Europe, for Europe," and officially opened its European headquarters in Braunschweig, Germany in 2026. It has built its own local R&D center and regional testing data center, simultaneously recruiting local talents for R&D, vehicle integration, compliance, and business positions, establishing a complete localized operating organization, and adapting its underlying architecture to EU regulations and OEM cooperation requirements.
On the business side, it adopts a two-pronged approach in overseas layout: First, following the wave of Chinese independent brands going global, it provides intelligent driving support for vehicles exported by FAW Hongqi, Sinotruk, and others; currently, it is advancing a commercial vehicle ADAS project for the European market with Sinotruk, and both parties are simultaneously planning the establishment of a localized production line in Europe. Second, it enters the European OEM supply chain, focusing on traditional OEM projects such as Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, and has already launched the next-generation intelligent driving POC (Proof of Concept) with the Volkswagen Group in Europe. The project selects ID.Buzz as the verification vehicle, equipped with Jimu System 2.0 (perception system), Zhizhou Blind-spot Filling Radar, and Thor. With an 11V1RSL sensor solution, it has completed real-vehicle road tests on highway NOA, urban NOA, and APA in Europe. The project is currently in the POC stage and plans to complete verification by the end of 2026, followed by mass production and designation.
Intelligent driving product application: Zhuoyu Technology has clearly defined commercialization priorities in the European market: highway NOA will be prioritized for mass production and application, while conventional L2 ADAS will be deployed simultaneously as a basic configuration. In 2026, the intelligent driving system will iterate to a multi-modal unified representation foundation model (MFM). Relying on a single foundation model to complete unified perception and decision-making of the physical world, the intelligent driving system is natively compatible with typical European scenarios such as highways, urban roads, roundabouts, trams, etc. It can not only directly match the current regulatory environment to conduct highway NOA mass production and delivery, but also provide a complete technical foundation for subsequent urban NOA commercialization. The model has strong cross-zone generalization capabilities, and can seamlessly adapt to the left-hand drive markets in Europe and right-hand drive regions such as the United Kingdom and Australia in one architecture, achieving model subject multiplexing on a global scale.
Chinese OEMs have completed a strategic leap in the overseas layout of intelligent driving, shifting from a passive export strategy to active global strategy. The involution of the domestic stock-based market has forced the industry to seek incremental breakthroughs externally. The mature mapfree foundation model technology and the complete industry chain have created a global generational technological advantage. The UN R171 S02 has opened a global compliance window for high-level intelligent driving. With the combined benefits of these three factors, 2026-2027 will be the transformative era for the globalization of China's intelligent driving. In the future, industry competition will no longer only focus on vehicle models or isolated functional capabilities, but center on a comprehensive system consisting of global product matrix, layered hardware-software strategies, localized R&D ecosystems, and compliant data systems. China's automotive industry will officially move from the "product export era" to the "intelligent technology and industry standard output era", reshaping the global autonomous vehicle competition landscape.