Uber, Pony.ai and Verne Put Europe’s First Commercial Robotaxi Service on the Map

Verne, Pony AI Inc. (NASDAQ: PONY), and Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) are teaming up to launch what they call Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service, using Pony.ai’s autonomous driving stack and Uber’s ride‑hailing platform, with Zagreb, Croatia as the initial market and ambitions to scale to thousands of vehicles across additional cities. For Uber, this adds another autonomous mobility partner to its ecosystem; for Pony.ai and Verne, it is a high‑profile entry point into European robotaxi commercialization.

 How the robotaxi model will work

Under the partnership, Pony.ai will supply its Gen‑7 autonomous driving system, deployed on the Arcfox Alpha T5 Robotaxi, while Verne will own and operate the robotaxi fleet and manage local operations. Uber will integrate the service into its global app, offering autonomous rides alongside human‑driven options, and Verne will also serve riders through its own customer‑facing platform. The partners are already running on‑road tests in Zagreb as they prepare to transition into fare‑charging commercial service, positioning the Croatian capital as the first European city with a fully commercial robotaxi deployment built around this model.

 Regulatory and expansion roadmap

Verne will lead market readiness and regulatory approvals in Europe, coordinating deployment of Pony.ai’s robotaxis across both the Verne and Uber networks and creating a unified operational and safety framework. The companies aim to use Zagreb as a template for expansion into additional European cities and, ultimately, other global markets, with a stated goal of scaling to a fleet of thousands of robotaxis over the next few years if regulations and unit economics cooperate. Uber also intends to invest in Verne as a strategic partner to support this multi‑market rollout.

 Strategic angle for Uber and Pony.ai

For Uber, the deal deepens its autonomous strategy of partnering rather than owning AV stacks, adding Pony.ai to a lineup that already includes players like Motional, Wayve, and others in different regions. Pony.ai, which has achieved unit‑economics breakeven for its Gen‑7 robotaxi operations in Chinese cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, is using that playbook to argue that its technology and business model are ready to scale internationally when paired with Uber’s demand aggregation and Verne’s local operational expertise.