Momenta

Momenta Global Limited (shortened to Momenta) is a developer of intelligent driving technologies, based in Beijing and Suzhou, China.

History

Momenta was founded in September 2016 led by Cao Xudong, a former scientist at Microsoft Research and formerly executive director of research and development at Chinese deep-learning and computer vision company SenseTime.

In 2017, Mercedes-Benz Group invested in Momenta, which was the automaker's first-ever investment into a Chinese startup.

Momenta became the first Chinese unicorn in the field of self-driving cars after investors valued the company at more than $1 billion in 2021. The investors included, in addition to those already mentioned, General Motors (GM), IDG Capital, GGV Capital, Blue Lake Capital, Shunwei Capital, and Cathay Capital. General Motors invested $300 million in Momenta, as was announced in 2021, with the aim to accelerate the development of self-driving cars in China. By that time, Momenta struck partnerships with SAIC Motor, Toyota, auto parts supplier Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Temasek, Yunfeng Capital, and Tencent.

Since 2021, SAIC Motors and Momenta have worked together on robotaxi operations in Shanghai and Suzhou. In addition, Momenta is also supplying autonomous driving technology to SAIC's IM.

In December 2021, Momenta and BYD established a joint venture, called DiPi Intelligent Mobility Co, located in Shenzhen, to deploy autonomous driving capabilities across certain BYD car model lines.

In 2023, General Motors China received approval to conduct road tests in Shanghai for its autonomous vehicles developed in collaboration with Momenta.

In 2024, additional partnerships with Nvidia and Qualcomm followed.

In August 2024, Audi and SAIC Motor announced a joint venture in which Momenta is contributing a system for autonomous driving.

In October 2024, Aion, the electric vehicle brand of GAC Group, collaborated with Momenta, planning to install Momenta's L2+ level autonomous driving system in its global models.

In September 2024, Momenta introduced its first end-to-end self-driving model intended for mass production.

In November 2024, Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE), opens new tab is betting on China's Momenta to help it win back market share in the world's biggest auto market, with plans for fresh investment and at least four future models to use the autonomous driving startup's software.

In May 2025, Momenta established a partnership with Uber, planning to launch an autonomous taxi service equipped with safety officers in Europe in early 2026.

In May 2025, SAIC Motor had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Momenta to jointly develop the world's first Robotaxi fleet based on mass-produced, pre-installed hardware.The fleet will begin operations in Shanghai, offering autonomous ride-hailing services to local residents.

Products

Momenta does not build cars itself, but sells their car software to automakers. The company works on deep learning capacities, the so-called "brains", of cars. Momenta's software is fed with large amounts of data which are needed in particular for the development of self-driving cars, so that they can achieve end-to-end intelligent driving.

According to Rita Liao in ''TechCrunch'', the company has a "two-legged approach of selling semi-automated software while investing in research for next-gen self-driving tech".

References

External links

Official Website (english)

{{Autonomous cars and enabling technologies

Self-driving car companies
Companies based in Beijing