China OTA Updates May 2025: NEVs Advance, JV Brands Trail

On June 19, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) released its monthly OTA (Over-The-Air) update monitoring report for May 2025 in China’s passenger vehicle market.

In May 2025, the industry rolled out a total of 495 function updates. Although ADAS-related upgrades continued to be affected by new OTA regulations, some automakers resumed ADAS OTA deployments compared to the near-stall in April. Examples include Voyah’s Huawei Qiankun ADS 3.3 update for the its DREAM Qiankun versions and NIO’s rollout of its intelligent driving world model, NWM.

The analysis is divided into three segments: New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Brands, Self-owned Brands, and Joint Venture & Luxury Brands.

NEV Brands

Total updates: 200 functions (vs. 129 in April).
7 NEV brands issued OTA upgrades.

NEV brands have temporarily shifted focus from the intense ADAS competition to smart cabin features. Beyond dedicating resources to lightweight “ecosystem applications”, May updates emphasized practical “contextual intelligence” (e.g., Task Master, Nap Mode), “voice features” (e.g., voice LLMs, interactive voice chat), and “navigation & ecosystem” enhancements.

A bar graph displaying the monthly OTA update statistics in the Chinese passenger vehicle market from January 2024 to May 2025, including function update categories and a pie chart representing the classification of new functions added in May 2025. — Table of the NEV brands

Self-owned Brands

Total updates: 289 functions (vs. 256 in April).
14 brands issued OTA upgrades.

Brands like Voyah, Lynk & Co, and Geely Galaxy released major version updates, primarily focused on vehicle controls, system settings, and optimizing interaction logic. These upgrades aim to deeply integrate intelligent features into users’ daily driving scenarios.

A bar graph detailing monthly OTA function updates from January 2024 to May 2025, showcasing updates from New Energy Vehicle (NEV) brands, domestic brands, and joint venture & luxury brands, along with a pie chart indicating the classification of OTA updates. — Table of self-owned brands

Joint Venture & Luxury Brands

Total updates: 6 functions (vs. 9 in April).
Only Volvo issued a minor OTA update for its EX30 EV.

Joint venture and luxury brands showed no acceleration in OTA frequency. This lag stems partly from new OTA regulations and partly from these brands still catching up in smart technology. However, collaborations with leading Chinese tech firms – such as Audi’s Q6 e-tron and A5L (with Huawei), and Toyota’s bZ7 – are expected to accelerate future OTA deployments.