Momenta has received a Germany-wide level 4 testing approval from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), clearing it to run autonomous vehicles in urban conditions across the country. The permit underpins the company’s planned robotaxi deployment in Munich and gives its European operation a validation base outside China.

The regulatory point carries more weight than the technical one. Germany runs one of the more demanding approval regimes for autonomous driving, and the KBA has granted nationwide urban testing rights to a developer whose engineering base sits largely in China.

Momenta already works with Mercedes-Benz, BMW and the Volkswagen Group, and runs its European headquarters in Böblingen alongside a Munich office. Supplier relationships and an operating permit are different things, though, and the second is what a robotaxi business needs.

Chief Executive Xudong Cao said in a statement that true autonomy depends on a system that understands the road rather than simply seeing it. He described anticipating how a situation will unfold as the core of the company’s physical AI approach, and cast the permit as a foundation for commercial deployment.

Platform partners including Uber, Grab and Lumo give Momenta routes to market once vehicles are ready to carry passengers. The distance between a testing permit and commercial deployment remains substantial, and no date is set for closing it.

Source: Momenta