MOTOR Ai Receives $20 Million for Autonomous Driving Software
The seed funding will fast-track the company’s global deployment of safe autonomous cars, which are already operating in Germany with a safety driver…
MOTOR Ai announced a $20 million seed funding round to bring its certified, neuroscience-driven technology into full deployment, starting with German public roads. The seed round was led by Segenia Capital and eCAPITAL, with participation of German HNWIs. The new capital will be used for the final steps toward type approval for public roads and the subsequent deployment of autonomous vehicles.
MOTOR Ai says that it has built an intelligence for Level 4 autonomous driving that reasons through data, rather than just reacting. At the heart of the system is a cognitive architecture rooted in active inference, a model from neuroscience that allows vehicles to make structured, transparent decisions. That’s how MOTOR Ai makes autonomous technology transparent and aligned with human and regulatory expectations, stated company officials in a press release.
“Our solution meets key requirements for transparency and traceability of autonomous driving decisions, as required by authorities, said MOTOR Ai’s CEO and co-founder, Roy Uhlmann. “That clearly distinguishes us from U.S. providers and at the same time optimally complies with European regulatory requirements.”
MOTOR Ai’s full-stack system already meets the most stringent European and international safety and compliance requirements, including UNECE approval standards, ISO 26262 (ASIL-D), Regulation (EU) 2022/1426, Autonomous Vehicles Approval and Operation Ordinance (AFGBV), GDPR, the EU AI Act, and upcoming Cyber Resilience Act provisions.
MOTOR Ai: Autonomy as a Service
This year, vehicles equipped with MOTOR Ai’s Level 4 system for autonomous driving will start operations in several German districts. The vehicles are supervised on board by a safety driver to be taken out during 2026. These deployments include both the full onboard autonomy stack and the technical supervision required by law.
“In a regulated environment like Europe, trust and compliance are non-negotiable,” said Michael Janßen, general partner, Segenia Capital. “MOTOR Ai has built a solution that is not only technologically differentiated but fundamentally aligned with how Europe thinks about infrastructure and public safety. This is how autonomy will scale in future.”
“This ‘Made in Germany’ in-house development reduces inter-dependencies while strengthening Europe’s ability to operate in critical innovative technology,” says Lucas Merle, principal at eCAPITAL.
MOTOR Ai states that its vision is a certified, explainable driver system that can serve as infrastructure for safe, transparent autonomy—one that Europe can both build on and believe in. Type-Approval after European and German regulations is foreseen in 2026.
“We don’t think the future of autonomy in Europe should be a mystery,” added Uhlmann, explaining the fundamentally different approach Germany and the EU take in comparison to other markets. “It should be measurable, inspectable, and designed to earn public trust. That’s what we’ve been building, and now we’re ready to scale it.”
