Uber Stock Climbs Premarket: Ride-Hailing Firm Eyes Munich For Self-Driving Pilot With China’s Momenta

Uber (UBER) stock edged higher in premarket trading on Monday after the U.S. firm said it will begin testing autonomous vehicles in Munich next year, through its partnership with Chinese startup Momenta.

The ride-hailing firm and robotaxi maker Momenta had first announced their partnership in May to expand into Europe. Monday’s revelation was the first time the companies named a city in continental Europe to test autonomous vehicles.  

“Munich is uniquely positioned to lead the way in bringing autonomous mobility to European streets and is the ideal launchpad for this groundbreaking initiative,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

Uber has signed several agreements to ramp up its robotaxi operations amid heightened competition from companies like Tesla and Alphabet’s Waymo. Uber’s smaller rival Lyft has also tied up with China’s Baidu to deploy robotaxis across Europe, beginning with Germany and the UK, in 2026.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about Uber was still in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing.

Uber has partnered with over 20 companies in autonomous mobility, delivery, and freight services, and is also offering autonomous services in 12 different cities already.

Its partner, Momenta, has also begun offering its robotaxi services in Shanghai and intends to roll out commercial services without onboard safety operators by the end of this year. It has also partnered with German automakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

“All of this competition in autonomous is going to create safer streets, and we’re going to be a big part of that,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had said to CNBC in August after Uber topped second-quarter profit estimates and launched a $20 billion share buyback program.

Uber stock has surged 46.3% this year.

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