As the commercialization of robotaxis accelerates globally, Uber...AnnounceUber has partnered with Chinese autonomous driving startup Pony.ai and Croatian mobility services company Verne to launch an autonomous taxi service in Europe. The project's first stop is Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where it is already undergoing road testing. This marks not only the latest development in Uber's global self-driving expansion but also signifies the entry of Chinese autonomous driving technology and vehicle hardware into the European market through a "service alliance."
A powerful alliance: Chinese hardware, autonomous driving brain, and local operations.
Promoting autonomous taxis in Europe, where regulations are stringent, is difficult for a single company to accomplish alone. This tripartite collaboration demonstrates a clear division of labor:
• Vehicles and Brains (Pony.ai):The test fleet will use Arcfox Alpha T5 electric vehicles manufactured by BAIC Motor, equipped with Pony.ai's latest seventh-generation autonomous driving system, which is responsible for core environmental perception and decision-making.
• Local Operations and Compliance (Verne):Verne, based in Croatia, will provide the service ecosystem and operational framework. More importantly, Verne will shoulder the most difficult task of expanding in Europe—obtaining approvals from regulatory bodies in various countries. To solidify the partnership, Uber has also agreed to make a strategic investment in Verne.
• Platform traffic (Uber):While the service will initially be available on Verne’s dedicated app, the ultimate goal is to fully integrate it into the Uber app, which has a huge user base.
Future Vision: From Zagreb to European fleets of thousands of vehicles
In a statement, the three parties said that road testing in Zagreb has begun and that the service will officially launch "soon." This is just the first step; the alliance's long-term goal is to expand the service to other major European cities and deploy a fleet of thousands of Robotaxi vehicles in the coming years.
Uber's global "asset-light" self-driving car strategy
This foray into Europe is just one part of Uber's recent intensive expansion of its self-driving car network. Looking back at Uber's recent moves, its strategy of "building broad networks" is clearly visible:
• North American market:Earlier this month, Uber officially launched its service to passengers in Las Vegas.Provide autonomous taxi serviceThe fleet uses modern Ioniq 5 self-driving cars developed in collaboration with Motional.
• Asian Market:Also this month, Uber announcedBy the end of 2026A pilot program for an autonomous taxi service has been launched in Tokyo, with partners including Japanese automaker Nissan and British self-driving startup Wayve.
