Autonomous Driving in China Uber Invests in Chinese Robotaxis

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Uber is seeking Chinese partners to bring robotaxis to Europe. And it has succeeded. The American company has signed contracts with three startups from the People's Republic, to enable driverless operations in the future—WeRide, Momenta, and Pony.ai.

All contracts with WeRide, Momenta, and Pony.ai were signed in the same week, as if someone was in a big hurry. On May 2, Uber and Suzhou-based Momenta announced plans to bring robotaxis to Europe's roads starting in 2026.

On May 6, a contract was signed between Uber and Pony.ai, the robotaxi startup founded by James Peng in California, but now significantly engaged in China and often referred to as "Chinese-American." This involves the launch of robotaxi services for Uber in "key markets in the Middle East." And just one day later, on May 7, Uber and WeRide signed an expansion of their existing strategic partnership. Uber is investing an additional $100 million in the company, now based in Guangzhou, to jointly launch robotaxis in 15 more cities in Europe and the Middle East.

Faster Global Rollout

Chinese trade media are jubilant, claiming Uber has chosen "the Chinese solution" and refer to the barrage of announcements as proof that "Chinese smart driving technology is ready for export." In reality, most of the more than 15 partners Uber has selected for autonomous ride services are still based in the USA, with some exceptions like the British company Wayve.

However, the now-concluded contracts with Chinese startups allow the American company a faster global roll-out of robotaxis, which must be important given the growing competition in this market to keep investors engaged. Tesla, for example, has announced it will launch its first robotaxi service next month in Austin, Texas, according to TechCrunch. Uber has apparently decided to quickly establish itself in as many cities around the world as possible with its new, future driverless service.

Initially With a Safety Driver on Board

Initially, a "safety driver" will still be on board to intervene if necessary. This has just been announced by Momenta and Uber, for example. This should give the algorithms a little more time to practice some things that are not entirely easy even for many drivers, such as "efficiently navigating through complex roundabout situations, mastering snowy and icy roads with precision, and recognizing multilingual traffic signs," it says.

From the perspective of the Chinese companies, the contracts with Uber are also good news, because autonomous driving is a "numbers game." Those who accumulate the most kilometers or miles have the best-perfected algorithms.

Momenta's "end-to-end" LLMs, for example, have so far been trained with huge Chinese datasets, but thanks to the cooperation with Uber they can obtain a kind of "global passport" in the future, as the Chinese news agency Xinhua comments.

Pony.ai's CEO, James Peng, is also pleased that his new contract with Uber is a "significant milestone in Pony.ai’s global strategy." His competitor Tony Han, the CEO of WeRide, sees a "shared ambition" with Uber to "make autonomous mobility available and affordable around the globe." It probably won't be long before you can choose between a vehicle with a driver and a self-driving robotaxi when calling an Uber via your smartphone app. In many cities around the world, the technology for this will then be "made in China." (se)