Autonomous driving: Uber cooperates with Momenta from China on robotaxis

In European countries, Uber soon wants to deploy robo-shuttles based on technology from the Chinese start-up Momenta. Both companies announced a strategic agreement on Friday to introduce autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform in international markets outside the USA and China. The partners plan to serve Europe as the first market from the beginning of 2026. Initially, security personnel will be on board. The two companies initially kept details of the agreement and the countries in which the self-driving cars will be on the road under wraps.

By combining Uber's rental car network with Momenta's autonomous driving technology, the duo say they aim to "accelerate and deliver safe, scalable and efficient robotaxi services". The collaboration paves the way for a future "where more passengers around the world experience the benefits of reliable and affordable autonomous mobility", emphasized Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Momenta CEO Xudong Cao emphasized that the agreement completes the "critical ecosystem needed to scale autonomous driving globally".

Based in Beijing, Momenta has already forged strategic partnerships with other major players in the field such as Saic Motor, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota. The company emphasizes its data-driven "flywheel" approach, which involves a continuous process of learning from similar or identical actions and improving algorithms based on this using real driving data. This should result in AI models that achieve more human-like driving behavior.

Lively competition in a potential future market

Momenta's strategy includes the use of production-ready driver assistance systems such as Mpilot and the development of fully autonomous driving technologies. The start-up has had permission to test its robo-cars on public roads in Shanghai since 2018. It is driven by the vision of using its technology to prevent one million road deaths in the next ten years. On the other hand, there is still little publicly available, comprehensive data on accident rates or safety records specifically for Momenta's fully autonomous systems. Ongoing real-world deployments, safety data and regulatory developments are therefore likely to be crucial to building long-term confidence in the company's capabilities.

Uber has partnered with companies such as Motional and Waymo for autonomous rental car rides in some US cities, but these have not been free from setbacks. Competitor Lyft is also eyeing the market. Uber previously had its own self-driving car division, but sold it to Aurora Technologies, an Amazon-backed company, in 2020. The deal provided for further investments by Uber amounting to 400 million euros. Despite the fierce competition, Elon Musk continues to claim that his electric car company Tesla will achieve a market share of over 90 percent in robotaxis. Volkswagen wants to bring self-driving cars onto US roads from 2026 in cooperation with Uber. (nen)