According to insiders, the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is working on autonomous driving China with the start-up Momenta. The Stuttgart-based company invested $75 million in the company, three people familiar with the process told the Reuters news agency on Friday. Mercedes could also be an anchor investor in a Momenta IPO in the first quarter of 2025. Mercedes and Momenta declined to comment.
First Chinese supplier of key technology
Momenta’s software will be used in four models that will be launched in China between 2025 and 2027, one of the insiders said. There is internal discussion about whether it should then be used in other Chinese vehicles. This would make Momenta the first Chinese supplier selected by Mercedes for a key technology.
The German carmaker has held a stake in Momenta since 2017, but the two companies have not yet publicly commented on jointly developed vehicles.
Mercedes has lost ground in the Chinese market and is lagging behind the competition, especially when it comes to electric cars. According to the Chinese industry association, only three percent of the Stuttgart carmaker’s vehicles sold in China this year were electric cars.
Momenta is one of the leading suppliers in the field of autonomous driving in China and includes, among others, BYD, Audi or SAIC to its customers.