Autonomous Driving Talent War Heats Up: $2,000 Daily Pay, $1M Annual Salaries Now Common

Level 3 autonomous driving gains regulatory approval, shifting the intelligent driving race squarely toward algorithms and data. Momenta has been reported to offer Mstar interns daily salaries of RMB 2,000, and it’s no longer unusual for top fresh graduates to secure annual packages exceeding RMB 1 million. New industry roles have surged 28-fold year-over-year, while core talent now changes jobs every 1.5 years on average. Automakers are dramatically ramping up R&D spending—Li Auto has invested over RMB 6 billion in AI, and Leapmotor plans to invest RMB 50 billion over five years. Tech firms like Huawei and Momenta focus on “empowering” partners, while new EV makers insist on full-stack in-house development, and traditional automakers such as Geely are assembling thousand-strong teams to accelerate their catch-up efforts. Behind this talent war lies an all-out battle over data flywheels, technological pathways, and ecosystem dominance. In the future of automotive competition, victory belongs to those who master AI.