Credit: Momenta
- This marks the first time a Chinese company has obtained Level 4 testing authorization covering urban roads across Germany.
- Uber increased its investment during Momenta’s Hong Kong IPO placement, bringing its total holding to about 1.19 million shares.
Chinese autonomous-driving company Momenta (HKEX: 6880) 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.
The company said on Wednesday that it was the first Chinese company to obtain Level 4 testing authorization covering urban roads nationwide in Germany.
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 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.
“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.
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.
The permit paves the way for Momenta to launch robotaxi services in Germany. The company has partnered with Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) and plans to make Munich the first European city for the service.
Meanwhile, Uber is deepening its financial exposure to Momenta. The ride-hailing company made an additional investment through its wholly owned subsidiary SMB Holding Corporation during Momenta’s Hong Kong IPO this month.
Public allotment information showed that SMB was allocated 397,600 shares in the offering. Momenta’s prospectus previously disclosed that SMB participated in the company’s Series C funding round completed in September 2025 and held 791,055 preferred shares.
That brings Uber’s total holding in Momenta to about 1.19 million shares. Based on the IPO price of HK$295.6 per share, the stake is worth about HK$351 million ($45 million).
Momenta was listed in Hong Kong on July 8, raising about HK$6.8 billion. The company said about 20% of the proceeds would be used to advance the commercialization of its robotaxi business.
Momenta has spent years building its presence in Germany and has partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Volkswagen Group. Mercedes-Benz invested in the company as early as 2017, becoming its first international automaker investor.
In addition to Uber, Momenta’s robotaxi ecosystem includes Grab (NASDAQ: GRAB), Lumo and EnjoyGo Technology, the ride-hailing unit of SAIC Motor (SSE: 600104). Grab made a strategic investment in Momenta in December last year.
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.
Earlier this week, the company confirmed that it had begun operating robovans in Suzhou for express delivery and overnight delivery services.
Mercedes-Benz and Momenta have launched a robotaxi fleet based on the Mercedes S-Class sedan in Abu Dhabi, with plans to commence operations in 2026.
