The American service platform Uber and the Chinese technology company Momenta, which specializes in autonomous driving, have announced plans to start testing self-driving cars in Germany as early as next year. The tests are planned in Munich and will be the next stage of Uber’s expansion into the robotaxi market, reports Reuters.
Cars of the fourth level of autonomy will be able to move without human intervention in specified areas and under specific conditions. Uber is looking to strengthen its position in the robotaxi industry by partnering with leading companies, including Alphabet’s Waymo, Lucid and WeRide, while Tesla is expanding its own autonomous taxi services in parallel.
Uber and Momenta first announced their partnership in May of this year with the goal of bringing driverless transportation to international markets outside of the US and China. Testing in Germany will be a key step in the implementation of the global expansion strategy. Momenta driver assistance software is already integrated into 400,000 vehicles thanks to the company’s cooperation with automakers.
Recall that in July, Uber announced a large-scale cooperation with the manufacturer of electric cars Lucid and the company of autonomous technologies Nuro. As part of this deal, Uber plans to purchase at least 20,000 Lucid electric cars worth $300 million to launch a new global premium robotaxi program.
