MOTOR Ai* announced today a $20 million “seed funding round to bring ‘cognitive intelligence’ autonomous driving technology into full deployment, starting with German public roads.” The new capital will support hiring, commercial rollouts, and expansion of its technology. AutoInformed notes that the recent Nazi propaganda spouted by Grok, the X social media chatbot, is just the latest example of the problems with large language models, aka L.L.M.s. Gathering large amounts of data doesn’t mean that systems using LLMs can think and reason safely without unintended dire consequences, such as X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino being fired by Elon Musk or Tesla’s Autopilot or leaving the company for her own reasons? [Ironically there isn’t enough verifiable data on this -AutoCrat]
“This type of AI enables the highest safety standard in autonomous driving – as is already legally standardized in Europe” said MOTOR Ai CEO and co-founder Roy Uhlmann. “As other providers pursue autonomy through brute-force data collection, end-to-end solutions and black-box prediction models,” MOTOR Ai said “it has taken a different approach: one that is deeply explainable and certifiable on the world’s highest safety levels. Its 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.”
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 – giving local transit authorities a fully operable path to autonomous transport without compromising control or safety. For the team behind MOTOR Ai, these milestones are the product of years of deep technical development including regulatory groundwork. Since 2017, the company has built its entire autonomy stack in-house from Berlin, working in close dialogue with certification authorities and federal certifiers,” the company said.
“Our solution meets key requirements for transparency and traceability of autonomous driving decisions, as required by authorities,” said Uhlmann. “That clearly distinguishes us from US providers and at the same time optimally complies with European regulatory requirements.”
“That trust is becoming increasingly important. As autonomous systems move closer to everyday use, European governments and the public are asking tougher questions: How are these systems making decisions? Can those decisions be explained or are they pure black box systems? MOTOR Ai’s architecture is designed to answer those questions clearly, legally, and reliably,” the company said.
*MOTOR Ai
MOTOR Ai was founded in Berlin in 2017 by Roy Uhlmann (CEO) and Adam Bahlke (CTO). The company says it has developed Level 4 intelligence for autonomous driving. “The system, which is based on cognitive intelligence, is able to make decisions in complex traffic situations. In contrast to purely machine learning systems, which are based on (pre-)trained situations, MOTOR Ai’s system can make reliable and comprehensible decisions in previously untested scenarios. This results in two major advantages: the autonomous driver can be certified according to international safety standards and, due to its ability to generalize information, does not need to be trained in all scenarios. MOTOR Ai plans to develop the first certified autonomous vehicle fleet for Europe,” MOTOR Ai said.
AutoInformed on
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Autonomous Cars – Cognitive Intelligence v Machine Learning
MOTOR Ai* announced today a $20 million “seed funding round to bring ‘cognitive intelligence’ autonomous driving technology into full deployment, starting with German public roads.” The new capital will support hiring, commercial rollouts, and expansion of its technology. AutoInformed notes that the recent Nazi propaganda spouted by Grok, the X social media chatbot, is just the latest example of the problems with large language models, aka L.L.M.s. Gathering large amounts of data doesn’t mean that systems using LLMs can think and reason safely without unintended dire consequences, such as X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino being fired by Elon Musk or Tesla’s Autopilot or leaving the company for her own reasons? [Ironically there isn’t enough verifiable data on this -AutoCrat]
“This type of AI enables the highest safety standard in autonomous driving – as is already legally standardized in Europe” said MOTOR Ai CEO and co-founder Roy Uhlmann. “As other providers pursue autonomy through brute-force data collection, end-to-end solutions and black-box prediction models,” MOTOR Ai said “it has taken a different approach: one that is deeply explainable and certifiable on the world’s highest safety levels. Its 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.”
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 – giving local transit authorities a fully operable path to autonomous transport without compromising control or safety. For the team behind MOTOR Ai, these milestones are the product of years of deep technical development including regulatory groundwork. Since 2017, the company has built its entire autonomy stack in-house from Berlin, working in close dialogue with certification authorities and federal certifiers,” the company said.
“Our solution meets key requirements for transparency and traceability of autonomous driving decisions, as required by authorities,” said Uhlmann. “That clearly distinguishes us from US providers and at the same time optimally complies with European regulatory requirements.”
“That trust is becoming increasingly important. As autonomous systems move closer to everyday use, European governments and the public are asking tougher questions: How are these systems making decisions? Can those decisions be explained or are they pure black box systems? MOTOR Ai’s architecture is designed to answer those questions clearly, legally, and reliably,” the company said.
*MOTOR Ai
MOTOR Ai was founded in Berlin in 2017 by Roy Uhlmann (CEO) and Adam Bahlke (CTO). The company says it has developed Level 4 intelligence for autonomous driving. “The system, which is based on cognitive intelligence, is able to make decisions in complex traffic situations. In contrast to purely machine learning systems, which are based on (pre-)trained situations, MOTOR Ai’s system can make reliable and comprehensible decisions in previously untested scenarios. This results in two major advantages: the autonomous driver can be certified according to international safety standards and, due to its ability to generalize information, does not need to be trained in all scenarios. MOTOR Ai plans to develop the first certified autonomous vehicle fleet for Europe,” MOTOR Ai said.
AutoInformed on
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.