Driverless taxis are starting to reach European cities. At the Women Automotive Summit Europe, industry leaders asked who will own the software behind Europe’s robotaxis.
Uber and Chinese firm Momenta plan to begin Level 4 robotaxi testing in Munich this year, with safety operators on board at first. In London, Waymo is targeting a fully driverless service by the end of 2026. Uber is also working with British start-up Wayve there, while Lyft plans to deploy vehicles from China’s Baidu.
That shift dominated the closing Ask Me Anything panel at the Women Automotive Summit Europe in Stuttgart on 6 October. Asked what comes next for the industry, Kristin Harder, Marketing Director Europe at Changan Europe, answered in two words.
“Piloted driving,” she said. “Of course, it is the next biggest transition, I think, that is hitting our industry. We talked about it for so long, but we’re really at the very close tipping point for that.”
Who will lead the race?
Harder framed the issue as a question of ownership. “The serious question, who is going to lead that race?” she asked. “And are European OEMs going to have their own solutions? Or are we, such as with batteries, for example, over 50% relying on maybe products from China or other countries?”
Her employer gives that question extra weight. Changan is one of China’s largest car makers and is now building its brand across Europe. Earlier on the same day, AlixPartners told the summit that Chinese car makers develop new models in roughly half the time of legacy brands.
Why do some experts expect robotaxis to grow so quickly?
Joachim Langenwalter led automotive software at Nvidia and later ran engineering at Stellantis. Today he advises carmakers and invests in start-ups. He argued that most business plans still assume slow, steady growth in private car sales.
“They are still thinking the classical way, I’m optimizing for private ownership,” he said. “And then they’re also the classical way is linear. Like 15%, 10% growth.”
Langenwalter expects robotaxi services to scale much faster. Citing Waymo’s push into European cities, he said growth “will not continue linear. It will continue exponentially.”
“So this means we’re not anymore in the near future optimizing for private ownership,” he added. “And this will change the whole world.”
Waymo will roll out services across Europe.
Who is building the technology?
According to Langenwalter, three companies plan to start robotaxi services in Munich within the next 12 months. “None of them is a European autonomous driving stack,” he said, referring to the software and sensors that control the car.
The confirmed Munich project supports his point. Momenta, Uber’s partner there, is a Chinese company that already works with Mercedes-Benz and BMW on driver assistance.
Langenwalter warned that carmakers risk losing their direct link with customers. “If we are not careful, we will become the manufacturer for a carrier,” he said. “And the carrier in this case, who has deep pockets, is Uber. They have 30% profit margin, and the car companies only have 3% to 5%. So they cannot afford to do it themselves.”
Still, he saw an opening for the people in the room. “There’s a lot of opportunity to really start rethinking how you do it and then maybe start optimizing your companies for different things,” he said.
How could self-driving change private cars?
Earlier, a panel on scaling innovation looked at what automation means for people who still own their cars. Nina Roeck, VP Software Drive & Comfort at Renault Group, expects the market to split in two.
“There will be a need to have affordable mobility,” she said. “That means not too much of assistance systems because all these assistance systems are making the cars far more expensive.”
At the other end, she sees cars with eyes-off systems at SAE Level 3, “like having the car as an extended office”. Roeck drives about 1,500 kilometres a week and already works by phone on the road. Over time, she expects the car to learn its owner’s habits.
“In future, it’s the car who understands my intention, who understands my needs over time and helps me like a kind of a personal assistant even beyond what a smartphone could do,” she said.
Hélène Lanssens, Senior VP Global Partnerships at Nextlane, wants safety upgrades for cars already on the road. “My daughter is 17. She will have a driver license next year,” she said. “I would pay for some extra safety for my young driver at home.” She suggested over-the-air updates for recent used cars, even on subscription.
That is important because the car fleet renews slowly. Ian Plummer, Chief Customer Officer at Auto Trader and the panel’s moderator, said the UK sells about 2.2 million new cars a year, against a car park of about 35 million.
Who else could benefit?
Not everyone wants a mobile office. Mel Lane, CEO of charging company Pod, compared the idea to Wi-Fi arriving on planes. “There’s a bit of me that rebels against that idea of, OK, that’s just another space where I’m always on,” she said.
She also pointed to a group that often drops out of the debate. “People with different levels of mobility or disability, that can be potentially game-changing,” she said.
