SAN FRANCISCO — Uber and Pony.ai announced Friday they will deploy more than 2,000 Pony.ai autonomous taxis across four European cities, extending a partnership that began in late March when the two companies launched what they describe as Europe's first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia.
The expansion also covers the Middle East, though both companies declined to name specific cities in either region or provide a launch timeline. Pony.ai is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker PONY and is scheduled to report quarterly earnings Tuesday.
Fleet size is the core commercial variable in the robotaxi business. More vehicles on road generate more sensor data, which is used to demonstrate safety records to regulators and to sharpen operational software. Higher vehicle density also shortens wait times, which drives user adoption — the same network-effect logic that built Uber's core ride-hailing business over the past decade.
The global fleet leader is Waymo, the Alphabet-backed operator, which runs roughly 5,000 autonomous vehicles concentrated in the United States. Waymo is currently testing rides in London and, in June, set up new legal entities in four major European Union economies. The company said it is also advancing plans in Tokyo and is in talks with officials in multiple countries to prepare for broader international operations.
Uber's approach differs from Waymo's vertically integrated model. Rather than developing its own autonomous vehicle stack, Uber positions itself as a commercialization platform — aggregating third-party autonomous vehicle operators and supplying the dispatch network, demand and data infrastructure. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, speaking on an earnings call earlier this month, said the company's goal is to become the leading global commercialization platform for autonomous vehicles. He described building a large pool of shared operational data that Uber provides to its AV partners to help accelerate their development.
The Pony.ai relationship is one of several Uber is running simultaneously. On Thursday — one day before the European expansion announcement — Uber said its Japanese subsidiary signed an agreement with a local taxi operator to handle daily fleet management for a robotaxi test deployment in Tokyo later this year. That makes Tokyo a city where Uber, Waymo and potentially Pony.ai are all maneuvering at the same time.
In Europe, Uber is also working with WeRide, another Chinese autonomous vehicle company. Uber and WeRide announced in June that they plan to launch Spain's first robotaxi pilot in Madrid later this year. WeRide and Uber additionally operate together in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, giving both companies ground-level experience in the Middle East market that the Pony.ai expansion now targets.
The presence of multiple Chinese AV operators in European and Middle Eastern markets reflects a broader push by Baidu's Apollo Go and WeRide to establish commercial footholds outside China. Both are running ramp-up plans and tests for autonomous passenger services in Europe. That puts three China-connected operators — Pony.ai, WeRide and Baidu — competing for European regulatory approvals alongside Waymo.
For Pony.ai specifically, the Uber partnership is the primary mechanism for building a commercial revenue base outside China. A fleet of 2,000 vehicles across European cities would put Pony.ai at roughly 40 percent of Waymo's current global vehicle count if the deployment completes as planned — a meaningful operational scale for a company still establishing its international footprint.
Uber does not disclose per-partner economics publicly, but the financial logic is straightforward: each AV ride run through its network carries higher margins than a human-driver trip because there is no driver revenue share. For Pony.ai, Uber's dispatch network removes the need to build consumer brand recognition in markets where it has none.
The unnamed four European cities and the absence of a firm timeline are the two largest open questions. European regulators vary significantly in how they classify and license autonomous vehicle operations, meaning Pony.ai and Uber will need country-specific approvals before any city launch. The Zagreb deployment in Croatia — launched in late March — serves as their proof-of-concept for that regulatory process.
