Momenta announced that its Robotaxi has officially received an intelligent connected vehicle road testing permit in Shenzhen, with on-road testing set to begin soon. This brings Momenta's domestic Robotaxi testing network to four cities: Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Shenzhen, alongside overseas operations in Munich and Abu Dhabi.
Shenzhen Becomes Fourth Robotaxi Test City
On July 21, 2026, Momenta officially announced that its Robotaxi has received an intelligent connected vehicle road testing permit in Shenzhen, with field testing scheduled to begin shortly. This marks Momenta's fourth core Robotaxi deployment city in China, following Shanghai, Suzhou, and Wuxi (which obtained testing and demonstration application permits in January 2026).
Shenzhen, as one of China's leading autonomous driving industry hubs, boasts comprehensive intelligent connected vehicle testing infrastructure and policy support. Momenta's choice of Shenzhen as its first Greater Bay Area Robotaxi deployment city signifies the expansion of its testing footprint from the Yangtze River Delta to the Pearl River Delta.
Momenta Domestic Robotaxi Testing Timeline:
- Shanghai: Early pilot city
- Suzhou: Early pilot city
- Wuxi: Testing and demonstration permit granted January 2026
- Shenzhen: Road testing permit granted July 2026
Global Testing Network Taking Shape
Momenta is pursuing a multi-city domestic expansion alongside synchronized overseas deployment. Beyond its four Chinese cities, Momenta's Robotaxi services are already operational in Munich, Germany, and Abu Dhabi, UAE, with plans to expand to other parts of Europe, Singapore, and Japan.
This multi-regional testing layout serves a clear strategic purpose—subjecting the autonomous driving system to diverse traffic regulations, road conditions, and driving habits, thereby enhancing its generalization capabilities and safety.
| Region | City | Status | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Shanghai | Operational | Early pilot |
| Domestic | Suzhou | Operational | Early pilot |
| Domestic | Wuxi | Demo operations | January 2026 |
| Domestic | Shenzhen | Testing permit | July 2026 |
| Overseas | Munich | Operational | Planned 2026 |
| Overseas | Abu Dhabi | Operational | Planned 2026 |
Technology Foundation: R7 World Model and Flywheel Effect
Momenta's R7 reinforcement learning world model, released in April 2026, has already been deployed in L4 autonomous driving applications. R7 employs a three-layer architecture:
- World Model Pre-training Layer: Compresses physical laws
- Simulation Layer: Derives various long-tail scenarios
- Reinforcement Learning Layer: Completes autonomous decision optimization
The SAIC Volkswagen ID.ERA 9X became the world's first mass-produced vehicle equipped with the R7 world model on July 8, signaling the model's transition from simulation to real-world scalable deployment.
Momenta's mass-production intelligent driving solution has been installed on over 800,000 vehicles, with cumulative designated models exceeding 200. This real-world data, gathered vehicle by vehicle on actual roads, is fueling the acceleration of its Robotaxi business—what Momenta calls the "flywheel effect."
Mobility Platform Partnerships Shorten Path to Commercialization
Momenta has established partnerships with global mobility leaders including Uber, Grab, Lumo, and Xiangdao Mobility. The Uber-Momenta joint Robotaxi project has selected Munich, Germany as its launch city, with commercial operations expected to begin in 2026.
For observers in Central Asian and Russian markets, Momenta's globalization trajectory sends an important signal: Chinese autonomous driving technology is transitioning from domestic markets to global export, and the pace of Robotaxi large-scale deployment may be faster than anticipated. EX1000.COM will continue tracking the global commercialization progress of autonomous driving technology.
