Uber is teaming up with two companies, China’s Pony AI and Croatia’s Verne, on what it claims will be Europe’s first commercially available robotaxi service. The vehicles are already being tested in Zagreb, Croatia, where Verne is headquartered, and will soon be available to customers on Uber’s RideHail network.
The announcement is the latest step taken by Uber to protect itself from the financial blow of robotaxis potentially dominating the traditional ridehailing business. The company has teamed up with dozens of autonomous vehicle developers in the past year in an effort to convince investors that it can survive the impending robotaxi era.
Its latest partners are Pony AI, which is currently piloting autonomous vehicles in several Chinese cities, and Verna, which was spun off from supercar maker Rimac. Under the terms of the deal, Uber will provide customers as well as a ridehail network; Verne would manage the fleet; And Pony will develop AI autonomous driving technology. The first service will be in Zagreb, with more European markets to follow. And the ultimate goal is to grow the fleet to “thousands of robotaxis” over the next few years.
Currently, the companies are validating the technology on the streets of Zagreb using Pony AI’s ArcFox Alpha T5 robotaxi, which is equipped with the Chinese company’s 7th generation technology stack. The vehicle was jointly developed and manufactured with the state-owned Beijing Automotive Group Company (BAIC). Once the companies start collecting fares, they hope it will be Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service.
As far as Verne is concerned, there haven’t been many updates since he was first announced as Remake’s Robotnik side project. Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac Group, showed off a fleet of 60 prototype autonomous vehicles late last year. However, whether those vehicles will ever join Uber’s fleet is an open question.
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