Quantinuum and BMW Group expand quantum computing partnership for future mobility
Updated
Updated · PR Newswire · May 5
Quantinuum and BMW Group expand quantum computing partnership for future mobility
10 articles · Updated · PR Newswire · May 5
Announced from Broomfield, the deal gives BMW access to Quantinuum's Helios system and planned Sol and Apollo generations through 2029.
The companies said the work will focus on advanced materials science, including electrochemical processes, fuel-cell design and platinum catalyst chemistry aimed at lowering costs and improving energy efficiency.
The collaboration began in 2021 and in 2024 produced what the companies said was the first quantum-computer simulation of catalytic performance, with results published in Nature.
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In 2025, Quantinuum, BMW Group, and Airbus expanded their partnership to use advanced quantum computing for solving the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) bottleneck in hydrogen fuel cells, which currently rely on costly platinum catalysts. Classical computers cannot simulate this complex quantum process, so the team employs hybrid quantum-classical algorithms on Quantinuum's high-fidelity H-Series quantum computers to accelerate catalyst discovery. This effort supports BMW's goal for sustainable hydrogen vehicles and Airbus's target of a zero-emission aircraft by 2035. Building on this, Airbus and BMW launched a global Quantum Computing Challenge in 2023 to crowdsource innovative quantum solutions for mobility. Meanwhile, BMW advanced quantum applications in electric vehicle design through collaborations with Classiq and NVIDIA. The partnership aims for breakthrough catalyst discoveries by 2028–2030, leading to commercial integration post-2030, promising reduced costs and significant transport decarbonization despite ongoing hardware and talent challenges.