Uber and Pony.ai said they will deploy 2,000 robotaxis across four unnamed European cities, expanding a partnership that began with a Middle East focus in May 2025. The figure matters because it puts a concrete fleet number on an industry that has so far traded mostly in pilot programs and press releases. No timeline was given, and the cities will be disclosed in phases, so the capital commitment behind the number remains opaque.
The partnership structure
Pony.ai will supply the autonomous driving stack while Uber contributes its ride-hailing platform. Fleet operations, maintenance, cleaning, charging, can be outsourced to a local provider, and ownership of the vehicles may shift depending on the market. That joint-deployment model is designed to let each side avoid the full balance-sheet weight of a robotaxi fleet, a structure that looks more like a franchise agreement than a technology integration.
The China base and the Zagreb precedent
Pony.ai already runs commercial robotaxis in four Chinese cities and has secured agreements with local transport authorities there. The company has also lined up partnerships aimed at Europe and the Middle East, including Qatar. Earlier this year the two firms announced a commercial launch in Zagreb, Croatia with local operator Verne, giving them a live European reference point before the broader rollout.
Uber’s broader AV portfolio
Uber has now struck deals with more than 30 autonomous vehicle developers over several years. The Pony.ai expansion suggests the platform is comfortable layering a Chinese technology provider onto its European network, even as regulatory scrutiny of Chinese automotive tech intensifies in Brussels. Whether the 2,000-vehicle target represents a meaningful slice of Uber’s European ride volume or a marketing milestone will depend entirely on the deployment schedule the companies have so far declined to publish.