Uber and China's Momenta to test fully driverless cars in Germany

Uber and partner Momenta will begin testing fully autonomous vehicles in Munich in 2026. The level 4 autonomous vehicles will be able to travel without a safety driver within a designated area. If the tests are successful, the companies plan to expand the service to other European cities.

Momenta is based in Shanghai, where it already operates its own robo-taxi service. Earlier this year, Uber allowed Momenta’s robots to be added to its platform, but only in cities outside the US and China. The initial launch will be driven by security operators, but the plan is to transition to full driverless mode.

The company receives funding from SAIC Motor, GM, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Bosch and supplies driver assistance software to several automakers, including Mercedes and BMW.

Although Europe lags behind the US and China in the development of robo-taxi, the market is starting to pick up. In addition to Uber and Momenta, the Chinese company Baidu and the American company Lyft plan to launch driverless taxis in the UK and Germany in 2026. Volkswagen has been testing autonomous cars in Germany for several years and has announced the launch of its own robo-taxi service in Los Angeles together with Uber in 2026.