Momenta CEO Predicts 2028 Inflection Point for L4 Autonomous Driving Scaling
At the 2026 Physical AI and World Models Conference, Momenta CEO Cao Xudong predicted that 2028 will serve as a major scaling inflection point for L4 autonomous driving. He noted that the industry is entering a 'Smart Driving Moore's Law' phase where safety and performance improve tenfold every two years. This prediction highlights how rapid advancements in world models and hardware-software co-design are accelerating the timeline for fully autonomous driving. As leading companies scale data and model parameters, the entire automotive ecosystem moves closer to widespread commercial viability. Momenta has accumulated over 1.3 million mass-production deliveries and nearly 20 billion kilometers of driving experience. Its sister company, XHEART, is developing next-generation chips like the X9 to support a 100-fold expansion in edge model scaling through hardware-software co-design.
## BACKGROUND
World models in autonomous driving are advanced AI frameworks that go beyond mere perception by simulating and understanding physical environment dynamics and future states. Hardware-software co-design involves tailoring silicon chips specifically to meet the computational demands of large AI models, improving efficiency and performance.