Transportation Uber and Autobrains want to test robotaxis in Munich
The ride-hailing service provider Uber and the Israeli AI company Autobrains are launching a joint robotaxi program in Munich. A fleet of level 4 autonomous vehicles will be built there, they announced on Monday at the GTC technology conference in Taipei.
01.06.2026, 07:59
SDA
With a level 4, driver attention is no longer necessary. The cab does not need a driver and passengers can sleep, work or watch movies during the journey.
This also makes vehicles without a classic cockpit possible, as there is no need for human intervention. However, the vehicle may only drive in a predetermined area, for example within the central ring road in Munich or on certain sections of highway. The project is technologically based on the computing platform of chip giant Nvidia.
Saying goodbye to expensive special conversions
At the heart of the strategic partnership is a fundamental paradigm shift for commercial autonomous mobility: the abandonment of customized special vehicles. Previous robotaxi services, such as the Google subsidiary Waymo, rely on highly individualized vehicle fleets with complex sensor superstructures on the roof.
Instead, the new program in Munich is establishing a so-called "OEM-agnostic" model. This means that the system can be easily integrated into existing series vehicles from a wide range of automotive manufacturers (OEMs) such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen.
For the automotive industry, this should open up the possibility of integrating their own vehicle platforms into an autonomous driving service network without immense development costs.
"Agentic AI" navigates through Munich
The technological heart of the project is the so-called "Agentic A" from Autobrains. In contrast to conventional end-to-end AI models, which process the entire driving task as a single large system, Autobrains' approach breaks down the driving process into specialized, independent software agents.
One AI agent evaluates right-of-way rules, another pays attention to pedestrians, other agents are responsible for tasks such as changing lanes. A higher-level system evaluates these dimensions of the traffic situation in parallel and makes binding decisions in real time.
Munich as a European test laboratory
Munich serves as a global launch city for the consortium. In addition to the dense urban infrastructure and proximity to leading automotive companies, the legal framework in Germany was a decisive factor in the choice of location. The German law on autonomous driving allows driverless operation under certain conditions in defined business areas.
The launch of the commercial service is subject to pending official approvals. For Uber, the project in Munich represents a strategic double-spike: the mobility giant is already testing autonomous driving in the region with its Chinese technology partner Momenta and is expanding its presence in the European market for driverless mobility with this second project.
However, important details remained unclear at the announcement in Taipei. For example, it is unclear which vehicle brand will be used first and who will operate the fleet. It is also still not clear whether there will still be safety drivers in the vehicle at the start of the test and in which area exactly and from when the test drives will be completed.
