Stellantis and Bolt develop autonomous vehicles

Autonomous Driving Partnership With Bolt: Stellantis Bets on Robotaxis

2025-12-09 From Sven Prawitz | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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The car manufacturer aims to develop autonomous transporters with Bolt and test their deployment. Initial mass production is planned for the end of the decade.

Stellantis has found another partner for its autonomous transporters with Bolt—and a potential customer.(Image: Stellantis) — Stellantis has found another partner for its autonomous transporters with Bolt—and a potential customer.
(Image: Stellantis)

Stellantis and the mobility platform Bolt aim to jointly develop and deploy Level 4 autonomous vehicles in Europe. The first tests are planned for 2026, with series production set to begin in 2029. According to the manufacturer, Bolt aims to integrate a total of 100,000 self-driving vehicles into its platform by 2035. Whether this demand will be met exclusively by Stellantis is not specified in the announcement.

According to their own statements, the cooperation combines Stellantis' AV-ready platforms with Bolt's mobility network, which is currently active in more than 50 countries, including 23 EU member states. The autonomous vehicles are to be integrated into the Bolt app and offer fully autonomous ride services without a human driver.

According to the announcement, the medium-sized eK0 van and the STLA Small platform from Stellantis serve as the basis. These systems are designed for flexibility and scalability, according to the manufacturer.

Allowed in China from July 2026: Steer-by-wire steering systems without a mechanical connection between the steering wheel and steering gear. (Image:ZF)

Scaling from 2026

Starting in 2026, both companies plan to deploy test vehicles in European countries. The functionality is to be gradually expanded—from prototypes to pilot fleets to industrial scaling. The partners cite 2029 as the first production target.

Markus Villig, founder and CEO of Bolt, emphasizes: "This partnership brings together two companies that understand the specific dynamics of business in Europe." The goal is to create the best autonomous vehicle offering tailored to European needs.

Stellantis Focuses on B2B Markets

For Stellantis, the collaboration expands its growing ecosystem of partners in Europe. In October, the group announced a partnership with Chinese provider Pony.ai for robotaxi tests. At the end of October, the announcement of a global robotaxi strategy with Nvidia, Uber, and Foxconn followed. Initial deployments of 5,000 vehicles in the U.S. are planned for 2028. The vehicles are based on Stellantis' "AV-Ready" platforms, including "K0" and "STLA Small," which are equipped with Nvidia's "Drive AGX Hyperion 10" architecture.

The car manufacturer now focuses solely on B2B markets for highly automated driving. In the summer of 2025, it became known that Stellantis had discontinued its work on a Level 3 system for passenger cars. The reason given was that the market for Level 3 automated driving is currently limited.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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