Uber and Pony.ai Plan 2,000 Robotaxis for Europe
The expanded partnership will also push into the Middle East, though the companies have not named the four additional European cities or set a timeline.
Uber and the Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai plan to put 2,000 robotaxis on the road across Europe, the companies announced Friday, expanding a partnership that already has self-driving cars running in one European capital.
The deal also extends the companies' cooperation into the Middle East, according to the announcement. Uber and Pony.ai did not name the four additional European cities that will get robotaxis, or say when the vehicles would start picking up passengers, saying only that details would come out in stages, TechCrunch reported.
Under the arrangement, Pony.ai will supply the self-driving technology and Uber will provide its ride-hailing app, TechCrunch reported. A local company can handle the day-to-day work of maintaining, cleaning, and charging the vehicles, and ownership of the fleet may differ from one market to another, according to the companies.
A Partnership That Started in the Middle East
Uber and Pony.ai, which is based in Guangzhou, China, first teamed up in May 2025 with a focus on the Middle East, TechCrunch reported. Earlier this year, the two companies launched what they describe as Europe's first commercial robotaxi service, running in Zagreb, Croatia, in partnership with the local firm Verne, according to CNBC. That service has been operating since spring 2026.
Uber has now struck deals with more than 30 autonomous vehicle companies, TechCrunch reported. Beyond Pony.ai, Uber and the Chinese company WeRide announced plans in June to launch a robotaxi pilot in Madrid later this year and already run robotaxi partnerships in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, according to CNBC. Uber also said Thursday that its Japanese subsidiary had signed an agreement with a local taxi operator to manage a test robotaxi deployment in Tokyo later this year, CNBC reported.
Racing Waymo for Market Share
The expansion comes as robotaxi operators compete to build the largest possible fleets, since more vehicles mean more data to show regulators the cars are safe and more rides for passengers to choose from, according to CNBC. Alphabet's Waymo remains the largest operator, with roughly 5,000 vehicles, most of them in the United States, CNBC reported. Waymo is testing rides in London and has reportedly set up new entities in four major European Union economies, according to CNBC, and the company told CNBC in a statement that it is working with officials around the world to lay groundwork for expansion, including in Tokyo.
Other Chinese firms, including Baidu's Apollo Go and WeRide, are also moving to expand robotaxi operations in Europe, CNBC reported. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said this month that the company aims to become "the world's leading commercialization platform for autonomous vehicles," according to a FactSet transcript of an earnings call cited by CNBC. Pony.ai is scheduled to report quarterly earnings Tuesday.
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