Pony.ai and Uber announced on August 14, 2026, an expanded partnership to deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis across Europe, scaling a collaboration that began with a single commercial service in Zagreb, Croatia1,2.
The expansion moves beyond Zagreb — where a commercial robotaxi service launched in April 2026 and is set to appear on the Uber platform — to four additional, still-unnamed European cities, bringing the total deployment footprint to five cities5. The partnership's expansion plan also includes the Middle East, though further details were not provided.
The collaboration dates back to May 2025. Rollout details for the new cities will be announced in phases, and no timeline was given for when the full deployment would be completed.
The expansion is structured around what Pony.ai calls its joint-deployment model, which divides a scaled robotaxi service into three specialized functions: Level 4 autonomous driving technology, a mobility platform with an existing rider base, and day-to-day fleet operations. Pony.ai supplies the self-driving system and operational expertise drawn from its existing large-scale deployments; Uber provides booking, payment, and customer service through its platform; and fleet operations in each market may be handled by established local partners, as Croatian mobility company Verne does in Zagreb. Vehicle funding and ownership can sit with different partners depending on the market, a structure designed to distribute the capital burden rather than concentrate it on a single balance sheet.
ANALYSIS The tri-party model — splitting autonomy, platform, and fleet operations across separate entities — is a distinct go-to-market approach from vertically integrated robotaxi operators that own or lease their own vehicles and run their own rider apps. By plugging into Uber's existing demand network and delegating fleet management to local operators, Pony.ai avoids building consumer-facing infrastructure from scratch in each new geography.
The five-city European commitment, combined with the Middle East expansion, represents a significant geographic scaling effort for a Chinese autonomous driving company operating outside its home market. Zagreb's role as the initial deployment city — and the use of a local fleet partner there — suggests the model is designed to be replicated across regulatory environments with minimal structural changes.
Separately, Uber reported 22% year-on-year growth in Q2 gross bookings and generated over $10 billion in trailing-twelve-month free cash flow6. Uber's recent $14.8 billion acquisition of Delivery Hero expands its cross-platform market presence.