Pony.ai and Uber announced on August 13, 2026, an expanded partnership to deploy more than 2,000 Pony.ai robotaxis across Europe, scaling what began as a single commercial service in Zagreb into a multi-city commitment1,4.
The expansion moves beyond Zagreb — where a commercial robotaxi service launched earlier this year with Croatian mobility company Verne as the local fleet operator — to four additional, still-unnamed European cities8. The companies also plan to explore deployments in the Middle East, though further details on both the city identities and rollout timeline have not been provided11,14.
The partnership traces back to May 2025, when Pony.ai and Uber first announced plans to bring Pony.ai robotaxis onto the Uber platform in international markets2. The Zagreb service, developed in cooperation with Verne, is described as Europe's first fare-charging commercial robotaxi operation.
The deployment is structured around what Pony.ai calls a joint-deployment model, which divides three core functions across specialized partners10. Pony.ai supplies Level 4 autonomous driving technology and operational expertise drawn from its existing large-scale deployments in China; Uber provides booking, payment, and customer service through its platform; and fleet operations in each market may be handled by established local partners, as 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.
Pony.ai currently operates paid, fully driverless robotaxi services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and has said it has achieved city-level breakeven unit economics in multiple markets.
Dr. James Peng, founder and CEO of Pony.ai, said the expanded agreement "marks an important new phase in the partnership between Pony.ai and Uber" and reflects a "shared commitment to bringing safe, reliable robotaxi services to more European cities". Sarfraz Maredia, Uber's Global Head of Autonomous Mobility & Delivery, framed the expansion as a shift from individual launches to repeatable commercial deployment.
The announcement lands amid a broader push by autonomous driving companies into Europe. Waymo has reportedly set up entities in France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. Uber and WeRide have announced plans to launch a robotaxi pilot in Madrid this year, while Lyft is looking to bring robotaxis to Europe next year. Baidu's autonomous driving unit has undertaken test drives in Switzerland, and BMW and Volkswagen have been exploring autonomous driving technology.
ANALYSIS The joint-deployment model — splitting AV technology, platform access, and fleet operations across separate partners — is designed to let Pony.ai and Uber enter new markets without either party bearing the full capital cost of fleet ownership and local operations. The structure also allows adaptation to different regulatory and business environments by swapping in local fleet operators market by market.
The scale of the commitment — more than 2,000 vehicles across five European cities — represents a step change from the single-city pilot phase in Zagreb, though the absence of named cities or a deployment timeline leaves the pace of execution uncertain.