Momenta secures permit to test robotaxis across Germany

The Chinese autonomous-driving company Momenta has received a testing permit from Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority, or KBA, allowing it to conduct Level 4 autonomous-driving tests on urban roads across the country. This marks the first time a Chinese company has obtained Level 4 testing authorization covering urban roads across Germany, fast-tracking European Robotaxi rollout 

On July 29, the Chinese autonomous driving firm Momenta announced that it had received a Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving testing permit from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), allowing it to conduct related tests on urban roads across Germany. This marks the first time a Chinese autonomous driving company has obtained L4 testing approval covering urban roads nationwide in Germany. 

Previously, Chinese companies seeking to expand autonomous driving operations overseas typically needed to apply for testing permits separately in different cities or regions. The permit means Momenta will not need to apply separately in each city, while its safety validation standards will be directly aligned with the European Union's regulatory framework. This is expected to significantly improve testing efficiency. The latest approval allows Momenta to conduct technology validation across broader areas of Germany without requiring city-by-city applications. 

Germany has long maintained strict requirements for automotive safety regulations. As one of the country’s key transportation regulators, KBA certification is widely regarded as an important step for companies seeking access to the European automotive market. The KBA is regarded as one of the world's most stringent transport safety regulators, and its approval is seen as an endorsement of the maturity of Momenta's technology. 

Momenta Robotaxi

"Germany is one of the global benchmarks for autonomous-driving regulation, with a rigorous and comprehensive approach that always puts public safety first," Momenta CEO Cao Xudong said. He described the company's world-model approach as designed to anticipate how road situations evolve, not just detect what is already there. The company's world model is designed not only to "see" road conditions but also to "understand" them, anticipating how the physical world will evolve and how different participants will interact, Cao said. 

Momenta said the KBA approval will allow its autonomous driving safety validation process to align more efficiently with European regulatory frameworks and provide support for future Robotaxi deployment. The permit paves the way for Momenta to launch robotaxi services in Germany. The company has partnered with Uber Technologies and plans to make Munich the first European city for the service. 

Zhang Xiang, a visiting professor at Huanghe Science and Technology University, told that the Germany approval shows Chinese autonomous-driving companies are starting to meet some of the world's strictest regulatory requirements, and that further overseas expansion will hinge as much on local partnerships and regulatory approval as on the underlying technology. 

In recent years, Momenta has continued expanding its overseas autonomous driving presence and has established cooperation with multiple European automakers. The company has partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Volkswagen, while also exploring Robotaxi applications with mobility platforms including Uber, Grab, Lumo and SAIC Mobility. 

Momenta Robotaxi based on the next-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class platform

In December last year, Momenta partnered with Southeast Asian mobility platform Grab to explore applications of autonomous driving technology in Southeast Asia. During the same month, Momenta, Mercedes-Benz and UAE mobility operator Lumo launched testing of an L4 Robotaxi based on the next-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class platform in Abu Dhabi. Momenta's strategy is to use a single world-model-based platform to support the large-scale deployment of passenger vehicles, robovans, robotrucks and robotaxis, while expanding into embodied intelligence. 

Momenta CEO Cao Xudong (left) and Uber CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah (right)

Momenta’s cooperation with Uber began in May 2025, with both companies planning to launch autonomous mobility services in Munich, Germany, in 2026. In July this year, Momenta, SAIC Motor and SAIC Mobility announced a mass-production Robotaxi vehicle plan, with related models expected to debut in 2027. The latest German approval is also aligned with Momenta’s commercialization strategy over the past two years. Unlike some autonomous driving companies that focus primarily on Robotaxi applications, Momenta has emphasized deploying the same foundation model technology across multiple scenarios, including passenger vehicles, Robovan, Robotruck and Robotaxi. 

Currently, Momenta’s intelligent driving systems have been deployed in more than 1 million production vehicles, covering over 100 vehicle models, with more than 210 designated vehicle projects secured. Previously, the company launched mass-production intelligent driving solutions based on its R7 World Model and has begun extending its technology capabilities into autonomous delivery and mobility service applications. At the capital market level, Momenta was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in early July, with its market value exceeding HK$6.8 billion (c. $867 million) on its debut trading day. The company said about 20% of the proceeds would be used to advance the commercialization of its robotaxi business. 

Founded in September 2016 led by Cao Xudong, a former scientist at Microsoft Research and formerly executive director of research and development at Chinese deep-learning and computer vision company SenseTim, Momenta initially focused on highway NOA, automated parking, and its L4 autonomous driving system MSD, gradually evolving from single-function modules to integrated system solutions. Two years after its inception, the company became the first autonomous driving unicorn in China and received investment from companies like NIO and Daimler. 

Cao Xudong was born on June 29, 1986, in Qingyang, Gansu. He graduated from Tsinghua University and is the CEO of Momenta. He has been selected as one of the Fortune China 40 Under 40 Business Elites and MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 China. He has conducted artificial intelligence research at companies such as Microsoft Research Asia and SenseTime, publishing dozens of papers in top-tier journals or conferences including Nature journals, the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), and the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV). In his interview with Tencent Auto, Cao emphasized that Momenta's success stems from putting the customer first and actively translating this philosophy into internal operations. 

He updated the company's historic slogan from "high efficiency, higher pay" to "higher pay, high efficiency", arguing that to satisfy clients, you must first motivate and value your engineers and staff. Competitive compensation and financial stability are the mandatory prerequisites for demanding excellence. As a former member of the Tsinghua University mountaineering team, Cao applies this philosophy to HR management: set the goal, collaborate closely, and advance step-by-step safely. He dislikes a corporate culture built on last-minute "heroic deeds" or desperate saves. Instead, he expects employees to work with rigorous planning to prevent crises before they happen. 

He firmly believes that the success of a tech company depends entirely on its talent pool. To retain a highly skilled workforce (where over 80% of employees are engineers, many holding master's degrees or PhDs), Cao Xudong relies heavily on equity incentive structures tied to milestones. This ensures that those who generate value for the company directly benefit from its financial success.