Auto Industry Seals Major Deals in January 2026 Spanning Autonomous Driving, Supply Chain, and Mobility Ecosystem

January 2026 marked a peak in joint ventures and collaborations across the automotive industry. BYD deepened its partnership with ExxonMobil on hybrid technology, focusing on customized lubricants and new material development. Changan Automobile teamed up with Midea Group to comprehensively collaborate on core new energy components, the "human-vehicle-home" ecosystem, and smart manufacturing. Geely Holding strategically increased its stake in ECARX by USD 45.6 million to strengthen its intelligent cockpit and chip portfolio. VOYAH and Huawei’s subsidiary Yinwang jointly developed intelligent driving and cockpit systems and co-established a consumer-facing (To C) software operations team. Additionally, CATL and NIO renewed their five-year strategic partnership to advance battery-swapping ecosystems and long-life battery technologies. Magna and NVIDIA upgraded their collaboration to jointly promote Level 2++ to Level 4 autonomous driving solutions. BAIC BluePark and Pony.ai launched "Collaboration 2.0" to accelerate the mass production and deployment of Robotaxis. Chery delivered 5,000 new vehicles to EHi Car Services, expanding its footprint in mobility services. On the supply chain front, Black Sesame Intelligent supported Baidu Apollo Go’s computing power requirements; Jiusight and Cainiao integrated resources to build the RoboVan “Super Carrier”; and Times Intelligence partnered with Indonesia’s IBC to drive localized EV development.