The Momenta robotaxi expansion is set to move from pilot scale to fleet scale, if the Chinese autonomous-driving company hits the targets its robotaxi chief laid out this week. Momenta says it wants “several thousand” robotaxis on the road by the end of 2027, up from a little over 100 today, with Dubai and additional European cities next in line.
Shuo Xie, who heads the company’s robotaxi business, gave the timeline in an online interview on Tuesday, according to Reuters. She said the fleet should reach the hundreds by the end of this year, then multiply in 2027. Momenta plans to deploy vehicles in Dubai next year, is in talks with a small number of European cities, and counts Japan as another priority market. Reuters’ account does not name the European cities or say how the Dubai service will be run.
Where Momenta’s robotaxis are running now
Reuters reports that the fleet, still at an early stage, consists of more than 100 vehicles across three countries. Testing takes place in five Chinese cities, plus Munich and Abu Dhabi. The company was founded by a former Microsoft researcher, is backed by Mercedes-Benz, and lists Toyota and BYD among its partners, while its other main business sells driver-assistance software to carmakers.
The Abu Dhabi programme was announced with Mercedes-Benz and Lumo, a UAE taxi operator, using vehicles based on the Mercedes S-Class, with commercial operations scheduled to begin in 2026. Separately, Momenta has partnered with Uber and plans to make Munich the first European city for its service.
In Germany, Momenta said in July that the Federal Motor Transport Authority, known as the KBA, had granted it permission to test Level 4 vehicles, meaning cars designed to drive themselves within set conditions, on urban roads nationwide. CnEVPost reported it as the first such nationwide authorisation for a Chinese company.
How the Momenta robotaxi expansion fits Dubai’s crowded market
Momenta will not be the first robotaxi company to operate in Dubai. WeRide, another Chinese autonomous-driving company, launched robotaxi rides on the Uber app there in partnership with the city’s Roads and Transport Authority, according to a December 2025 announcement. Both companies said they planned to scale Middle East operations to thousands of robotaxis over the coming years.
Reuters lists Alphabet’s Waymo and China’s Pony.ai among Momenta’s competitors. Pony.ai has also teamed with Uber and the robotaxi company Verne to start what they called Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, aiming for thousands of vehicles over the next few years. As of last September, TechCrunch reported, Uber counted Momenta among about 20 autonomous-vehicle partners.
The chip bet behind the cost question
Momenta has been working with the chipmaker XHeart on processors designed specifically for its driving software. Xie told Reuters that such chips should cost significantly less than Nvidia hardware offering comparable computing power, and that XHeart is now developing a next-generation chip called the X9. Those are company statements about future cost, and the Reuters report gives no independent figures.
The cost matters to the Momenta robotaxi expansion because every robotaxi carries its own onboard computer, so a fleet that grows from about 100 vehicles to thousands multiplies that expense many times over. Lower per-vehicle hardware costs would ease that path, if the company’s claim holds up in practice.
Robotaxis are one of several places where AI systems are moving out of the lab and into daily life. HCN has also covered the launch of OpenAI’s Dots always-on AI agents and the safety questions that came with it.
What remains unconfirmed about the 2027 target
The 2027 figure is a target stated by the company, not a delivered result, and the published account does not say how many vehicles will be built, who will supply them, or what approvals Dubai and the European cities will require.
Reuters describes Abu Dhabi as a testing location, and HCN could not confirm whether paying passengers are already being carried there. Whether the Momenta robotaxi expansion can grow from a little over 100 vehicles to thousands in about 15 months, against rivals already operating in the same markets, is the question the next set of fleet figures should answer. HCN will update this story as further details emerge.