Momenta, a Chinese self-driving startup backed by Mercedes-Benz, says it wants to put “several thousand” robotaxis on roads by the end of next year, a dramatic jump from the 100-plus vehicles it operates today. The company is currently testing its autonomous taxis in Munich and Abu Dhabi, and says Dubai is next on its expansion list.
The ambitious target underscores how far the autonomous vehicle industry has come—and how far it still has to go. While many companies have spent years and billions of dollars on self-driving technology, few have managed to turn it into a profitable, scalable business. Momenta is trying to do just that by pursuing two distinct paths at once.
Two roads to autonomy
Momenta’s first business line is selling advanced driver-assistance software to automakers. This is the more straightforward revenue stream: carmakers pay for the technology to power features like lane-keeping, adaptive cruise control, and automated parking in their vehicles. It’s a growing market, but it’s also crowded, with rivals like Mobileye, Huawei, and a host of startups all competing for the same automaker contracts.
The second path is running its own robotaxi fleet. This is the harder challenge. Scaling a robotaxi operation means replicating the same expensive hardware package—sensors, cameras, lidar, computing units—in every single car, and then doing it again in every new city. Each city brings its own traffic patterns, road rules, and unpredictable situations that the software must learn to handle safely.
Shuo Xie, who heads Momenta’s robotaxi business, told Reuters that the fleet should reach the hundreds by the end of this year before jumping to several thousand by the end of next year. That’s a steep growth curve, and it will require not just more cars, but also more operational capacity—maintenance, remote monitoring, safety drivers, and regulatory approvals.
Cutting costs with new chips
One key to making that scale work is cost. Momenta is working on a new line of chips, called XHeart, which are designed to be cheaper than the hardware currently used in its robotaxis. Lowering the cost per vehicle is essential if the company hopes to make robotaxis economically viable at scale. The less each car costs to build and operate, the closer the business gets to turning a profit.
The company’s choice of test cities is also telling. Munich and Abu Dhabi are both known for having relatively favorable regulatory environments for autonomous vehicles, and they offer different driving conditions—European city streets versus Middle Eastern highways and heat. Dubai, which has been actively courting autonomous vehicle companies, could provide another real-world proving ground.
Momenta’s expansion plans come at a time when the global robotaxi race is heating up. Waymo, backed by Alphabet, is already operating commercial robotaxi services in several US cities. Tesla has promised its own robotaxi network, though it has yet to deliver at scale. In China, companies like Baidu and Pony.ai are also deploying autonomous fleets. Momenta’s push into Europe and the Middle East suggests it sees opportunities beyond its home market.
What it means for investors
For everyday investors, Momenta’s plans are a reminder that the autonomous vehicle story is still very much in its early chapters. The technology is advancing, but the path to profitability is long and uncertain. Companies in this space often burn through cash for years before seeing meaningful revenue, and there’s no guarantee that any single player will emerge as a clear winner.
Momenta is privately held, so most investors can’t buy shares directly. But its backers include Mercedes-Benz, which is publicly traded, and the company’s progress could have implications for the broader auto industry. If Momenta succeeds in making robotaxis cheap and reliable, it could pressure traditional automakers to accelerate their own autonomous driving efforts—or to partner with companies like Momenta rather than build in-house.
Investors should also keep an eye on the regulatory landscape. Autonomous vehicles operate in a legal gray area in many jurisdictions, and approval processes can be slow and unpredictable. A setback in one city could delay expansion plans, while a favorable ruling could speed them up.
For now, Momenta’s target of several thousand robotaxis by the end of next year is a bold statement of intent. Whether it can hit that number—and do so profitably—will be one of the more interesting stories to watch in the autonomous vehicle space over the next 18 months.
