Chinese Automakers Embrace World Models For Simulation

Chinese automakers increasingly adopt cloud-based 'world models' to simulate driving environments and validate end-to-end driving systems, industry sources report. Companies including Xpeng, Nio, Huawei, Li Auto, and others use varied approaches—Li Auto proposed a driving world model in 2025, and Tesla presented a 'world simulator' at last year's ICCV—aiming to generate synthetic scenarios and speed model updates. However, current models remain limited, producing only 30–60 seconds of video and facing hallucination and consistency challenges.