Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority has granted the Chinese autonomous driving specialist Momenta a nationwide permit for Level 4 test drives on urban roads. Announced on 29 July 2026, it removes the decisive regulatory hurdle from a Munich robotaxi project that has been trailed for a year — and it is a permit no carmaker selling Level 2 systems in Germany currently holds.
What the permit does and does not allow
The approval from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt covers Level 4 testing in urban traffic across the whole of Germany. Level 4 means the system handles the entire driving task within its operational design domain without a human supervising it, which is a categorical step beyond the Level 2 driver-assistance that Tesla's FSD (Supervised) and every comparable system on sale in Europe operate at today.
The important qualifier is the word testing. This is authorisation to run trials, not to open a commercial driverless service. Momenta's own framing acknowledges the gap: the regulatory hurdle has fallen, but there is still some way to go before a first paying passenger.
| Aspect | Status |
|---|---|
| Granting authority | Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) |
| Scope | Level 4 test drives, urban roads, all of Germany |
| Announced | 29 July 2026 |
| Commercial service | Not authorised |
| Launch city | Munich, with Uber |
Why "nationwide" is the operative word
Until now, autonomous testing in Germany has largely meant negotiating permissions city by city — a process that turns every new location into a fresh administrative project. A single federal permit collapses that. Momenta can extend trials to new German cities without restarting the approval process each time, and its safety validation standards are aligned directly with the EU regulatory framework rather than a patchwork of local requirements.
It is also a first: by Momenta's account and Chinese state media reporting, no other Chinese company has held a Germany-wide urban Level 4 testing permit. The vehicles will run with Uber, which has been building a portfolio of autonomy partnerships rather than developing a stack of its own, and Munich is the starting point for testing during 2026.
The comparison Tesla owners will draw
Tesla has spent 2026 expanding FSD (Supervised) across Europe and publishing safety data to support the case — most recently reporting that European FSD was 5.2 times safer than manual driving across 65 million kilometres. But everything Tesla operates in Europe today is Level 2: a licensed driver remains legally responsible, hands and attention included.
The gap between that and what Momenta has just been cleared to test is not a software increment, it is a liability transfer. At Level 4 the manufacturer or operator carries responsibility for the driving task. That is why the approval process is slow, and why a federal type-level permit is a different achievement from a good collision statistic.
Tesla's approach in Europe has been to seek approval for supervised systems while pushing regulators toward higher automation, with its robotaxi network so far confined to US cities. Momenta arriving at nationwide German Level 4 testing first is a reminder that in Europe the constraint on autonomy has never been the demo — it is the paperwork, and the paperwork rewards whoever engages with it earliest.
What to watch next
The meaningful milestones from here are narrow and checkable: whether Munich testing actually begins in 2026, whether the KBA permit survives contact with real urban traffic without restriction, and whether Germany moves from authorising tests to authorising a paid service. Until that last step, this is a licence to learn in public, not a robotaxi launch.