Chinese autonomous-driving company Momenta Global plans to expand its robotaxi operations to Dubai and more European cities. It aims to put several thousand vehicles on the road by the end of next year. Shuo Xie, head of the robotaxi business, told Reuters the fleet should number in the hundreds by the end of this year.
Fleet plans
“The size of our robotaxi fleet will be in the ... hundreds at the end of this year and then it will be several thousand at the end of next year,” Xie said in an online interview. Momenta’s stated timetable calls for vehicle deployments in Dubai in 2027. The company has also held talks with a “few” European cities about expanding there.
Momenta is testing robotaxis in five Chinese cities, Munich and Abu Dhabi. It has deployed more than 100 vehicles in three countries, according to the article. The company hasn’t specified how many vehicles it plans to operate in Dubai or the European cities under discussion.
Japan is also a priority, Xie said on Tuesday. The report didn’t give a timetable for expansion there. Momenta is seeking additional markets while its robotaxi business remains at an early stage.
Partners and business
A former Microsoft researcher founded Momenta, which Mercedes-Benz backs. Toyota and BYD are among its partners. The company runs two main businesses: advanced driver-assistance software sold to automakers, and robotaxis.
Its robotaxi business operates separately from its driver-assistance software operation. Momenta competes with Alphabet’s Waymo and China’s Pony.ai, among others. The article didn’t detail the size of those competitors’ fleets or the terms of Momenta’s partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, Toyota or BYD.
Funding and technology
Momenta raised around $751 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong in July. Its shares have fallen some 45% from the IPO price, partly because investors are cautious about the outlook for Hong Kong-listed AI shares. The company remains unprofitable as it spends heavily on research and development.
Momenta has worked with chip company XHeart to produce chips designed specifically for its autonomous-driving software. Xie said those chips should cost “significantly lower” than equivalent computing power from Nvidia. She added that XHeart is developing a next-generation chip, the X9.
“In a couple of years the robotaxis that I am going to deploy around the world, hopefully a lot of them will be hosted on that X9 chip,” Xie said. The company hasn’t said how many vehicles might use the X9. Its expansion plans and fleet targets remain prospective, while current robotaxi operations include testing in China, Munich and Abu Dhabi.