Originally Posted by Molecules

I'm sure the fact that both 'Autobahn' and 'Neu!' were produced and tremendously influenced by Conny Plank had something to do with the albums sounding similar. The 'motorik' beat was developed in those early sessions by Rother, Schneider etc, I think they were all entitled to take away what they learned with them.

I love both albums, and there's no reason to posit that Autobahn 'rips off' Neu!... by the time of it's release (as you said yourself) Kraftwerk had gone off in a completely different direction with their use of drum machines and synthesizers, leaving acoustic instruments behind (except the odd treated voice) and going on to lay the foundations for electronic music to come.
Neu! went on doing the motorik/ambient thing (with great success, obviously).

And dismissing Kraftwerk as techno-pop, when techno had not been invented yet? The originators of techno itself in early 80s middle-class suburban Detroit got the idea for it staying up listening to Kraftwerk records and combining it with the danceability of funk and disco.

I see where you're coming from I think, Neu! offers a much more 'kosmiche' and cerebral experience (although 'Autobahn' to me still retains the hypnotic quality of their earlier 'Krautrock' work)... But, ya know. Different strokes for different Kraut-luvvin' folks!