China's City NOA Market Tops 1.8 Million Installations in H1 2026, but No One Leads by Much

Some 1.802 million passenger vehicles in China were fitted with city-NOA-capable L2 driver-assistance hardware during the first half of 2026, according to a D1EV tally of insurance registrations. The monthly run rate climbed from roughly 253,000 units in January to 408,000 in June — a striking expansion given that the overall passenger-car market contracted by close to 20 percent over the same period. The count reflects hardware fitment, i.e. the maximum number of systems that could be activated, and leaves out highway-only and memory-navigation products such as Huawei's ADS SE.

The market splits between two camps. Seven independent suppliers — Huawei, Momenta, Qianli Haohan (the rebranded Zeekr driving unit), Yuanrong Qixing, Zhuoyu (formerly DJI Automotive), Horizon Robotics and WeRide — commanded a combined 51.4 percent, with the remaining 48.6 percent going to five carmakers that develop their stacks in-house: Tesla, Xiaomi, Li Auto, Nio and XPeng. Huawei led with 323,000 units, ahead of Tesla and Momenta at more than 200,000 each, yet the top three together hold just 43 percent — no single player dominates. The pursuers are accelerating, too: WeRide's volume grew 1,775 percent between January and June, Horizon's 343 percent and Yuanrong's 201 percent, and Yuanrong even displaced Qianli from third place in June.

The author frames these 12 companies — 11 Chinese firms plus Tesla — as the core players not only of China's L2 scene but of the coming era of "physical AI." One practical gauge of future winners, the piece argues, is the hit model: the 10 best-selling NOA-equipped vehicles accounted for 45.4 percent of first-half installations, and their driving systems trace back to just seven companies — Tesla, Xiaomi, Li Auto, Huawei, Nio, XPeng and Qianli. Concentrated single-model volume means better data, faster iteration and healthier margins. And with the sub-RMB200,000 segment, a pool of more than 13 million cars, still largely untapped, the article concludes that this contest is only getting started.