Uber and one of its many robotaxi partners, Momenta, will take a look at totally driverless automobiles in Germany subsequent yr. The information comes as Europe continues to lag behind the US and China within the variety of commercially operational robotaxi providers.
The businesses say they’ll take a look at Stage 4 autonomous autos in Munich beginning in 2026. (Stage 4 describes totally driverless autos, with out security drivers, that may function anyplace inside an outlined geographic space.) If every little thing goes in keeping with plan in Munich, Uber says that Momenta robotaxis may very well be coming to further European cities within the years to return.
Momenta relies in Shanghai, the place it’s presently working its personal robotaxi service. Earlier this year, Uber mentioned it could permit the corporate so as to add its robotaxis to its ridehailing platform, although it could be cities outdoors the US and China. Uber additionally mentioned that Momenta’s robotaxis would characteristic security screens behind the wheel at launch, earlier than finally transitioning to totally driverless autos.
Momenta, which has obtained funding from China’s state-owned SAIC Motor, GM, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and Bosch, presently provides driver help software program to numerous automakers, including Mercedes and BMW.
Although it presently lags behind the US and China, Europe is beginning to see extra robotaxi motion that indicators the floodgates might quickly be open. Along with Uber and Momenta, China’s Baidu and Lyft plan on bringing driverless taxis to the UK and Germany in 2026. Volkswagen has additionally been testing autonomous autos in Germany for a number of years, and just lately mentioned it could launch its own robotaxi service with — you guessed it — Uber in Los Angeles in 2026.