Berlin-based startup MOTOR Ai has raised $20 million in seed funding, led by Segenia Capital and eCAPITAL, along with mobility-focused angel investors. This strategic investment positions MOTOR Ai to finalize regulatory approval and begin public deployment of its Level 4 autonomous driving system across German roads by 2025. The goal: to phase out safety drivers by 2026.

Rethinking Autonomy Through Cognitive Neuroscience

Founded in 2017 by Roy Uhlmann (CEO) and Adam Bahlke (CTO), MOTOR Ai has developed a full-stack autonomy system modeled on human cognitive processes. Drawing from the neuroscience concept of “active inference,” the system doesn’t just learn through data - it builds and maintains a structured internal model of the world, enabling the vehicle to make interpretable and explainable decisions.

This transparency is not just a technical innovation - it’s a regulatory asset. The system is built to comply with stringent European safety standards, including UNECE regulations, ISO 26262 ASIL‑D, GDPR, and the upcoming EU AI Act. Each decision made by the vehicle can be traced and explained, ensuring public trust and regulatory alignment from day one.

Built for Public Roads and Regulatory Confidence

The company plans to launch its first autonomous vehicles on public German roads later this year. These vehicles will initially operate with safety drivers, transitioning to fully driverless operations as type approval is completed by 2026. Because MOTOR Ai has engineered its entire system in-house - from perception to decision-making to safety validation - it has been able to optimize for compliance and certification from the ground up.

Here’s a critical insight that founders should not miss: MOTOR Ai didn’t just build an autonomy stack - it redefined the problem as a trust infrastructure challenge. While other companies focused on collecting massive datasets and scaling AI, MOTOR Ai focused on explainability and auditability. This decision turned a regulatory constraint into a product feature.

The takeaway? Regulation isn’t just red tape - it’s a design brief. Founders should ask themselves: What do users, regulators, or partners grudgingly accept today that could actually be designed away? For MOTOR Ai, that was black-box decision-making. For your startup, it could be something else - look for the friction points that everyone tolerates and flip them into a competitive advantage.

Multi‑Sensor Fusion and Safety‑First Design

MOTOR Ai’s vehicles combine LiDAR, radar, cameras, GPS, ultrasound, and microphones into a robust, redundant sensory system. This fusion isn’t just about reliability - it’s the foundation for building a world model that can safely handle edge cases in dynamic environments.

Because the system doesn’t rely purely on probabilistic deep learning, but on cognitive inference principles, it can deduce cause and effect in ways that go beyond pattern recognition. This makes it more resilient to unusual situations and significantly better aligned with the demands of European regulators.

Early Traction in German Districts

Pilot deployments are already underway in several German municipalities. The company is partnering with local authorities to provide autonomous mobility solutions that enhance connectivity in both urban and rural environments. By aligning with public transportation goals, MOTOR Ai isn’t just a tech play - it’s a smart city enabler.

Safety drivers will accompany the initial vehicles as a precaution, but the roadmap anticipates full driverless service within two years, contingent on certification. Early feedback from stakeholders and passengers has been positive, especially around the transparency and consistency of vehicle behavior.

Scaling Teams for Certification and Expansion

The new funding will be used to grow MOTOR Ai’s automotive engineering and safety certification teams. The company is also preparing to scale its commercial deployment strategy, which includes forming new partnerships with European cities and public transit providers.

Additionally, MOTOR Ai aims to build out its regulatory affairs division to deepen collaboration with type-approval bodies, compliance agencies, and transportation ministries. This operational alignment is key to achieving scalable deployments across the EU in coming years.

Leadership Rooted in Policy and Technical Excellence

CEO Roy Uhlmann and CTO Adam Bahlke bring complementary strengths to the table. Uhlmann’s background in systems engineering and Bahlke’s involvement with standardization bodies (including the DIN automotive commission) position the company at the intersection of innovation and regulation.

With a multidisciplinary team of 40+ experts in Berlin, MOTOR Ai has cultivated a culture that prioritizes trust, rigor, and public accountability - a combination that could make it the new benchmark for responsible AI mobility in Europe.

Europe’s Benchmark for Responsible Autonomy

MOTOR Ai is not trying to replicate the U.S. playbook for autonomy. Instead of scaling through brute-force data and black-box learning, it has built a modular, explainable system tailored for Europe’s public roads, laws, and cultural attitudes toward risk.

Its model-based AI not only enables compliance - it earns trust. And in Europe’s heavily scrutinized public space, that’s the difference between a pilot project and a national rollout.