China’s self-driving push gains ground in Europe as Momenta, Pony.ai expand

China's autonomous-driving ambitions are gaining ground in Europe, as Momenta and Pony.ai expand their operations. Deutsche Bank has raised its target price for Momenta following a regulatory breakthrough and commended the company as the "No 1 independent autonomous-driving solution provider globally." Specifically, Momenta holds a 64.5 percent market share in the urban "navigation on autopilot" segment and collaborates with nine of the top global automakers.

Deutsche Bank analyst Bin Wang highlighted Momenta's strategic partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and GM. The German investment bank initiated coverage of the Chinese firm following its HK$5.9 billion IPO in Hong Kong, which set a target price of HK$400 per share. Meanwhile, Pony.ai, backed by Baidu, announced an expansion of its strategic partnership with Uber, bringing Level 4 autonomous-driving technology to more than 2,000 robotaxis across five European cities.

This collaboration aims to extend beyond the current service in Croatia's Zagreb to four additional unnamed European cities, with plans to include the Middle East. These developments highlight China's growing influence in the global auto market, particularly in electric vehicles and autonomous driving. According to Deutsche Bank's research, third-party independent solution providers like Momenta are better positioned than carmakers' in-house teams in the rapidly expanding autonomous-driving market.

Their advantages include faster algorithm iteration, access to larger fleets across multiple OEM partners, and lower unit development costs as AI, sensor-integration, and cloud-training expenses spread across a broader customer base. Deutsche Bank expects autonomous system penetration at Level 2 and above to reach 98 percent by 2030.