Pony.ai said it is working with Uber to bring its seventh-generation robotaxis to London, with testing expected to start in the coming weeks, taking the partnership beyond Zagreb, where Pony.ai-powered cars are already bookable on the Uber app.
“Pony.ai on Uber is coming to London,” the Chinese autonomous driving company said in posts on X and LinkedIn on Thursday.
“Testing is expected to start in the coming weeks, and we look forward to working with local and national government officials, and our partners, as plans progress to begin trials for self-driving vehicles under the UK’s leading AV regulations,” Pony.ai said on LinkedIn.
The company did not disclose how many vehicles it will test, which company will operate them, when a commercial service could start or whether test rides will be offered to the public through Uber.
Pony.ai described London as “another step” in its expanding global footprint “as we scale autonomous mobility in Europe.”
Crowded London Market
Uber already offers autonomous rides in London with British startup Wayve, which began supervised rides on the Uber app on Sept. 3 using Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles with a safety operator on board.
Riders requesting UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort can be matched with a Wayve vehicle at no extra cost, and approvals for fully driverless operation were still pending at launch.
Baidu‘s Apollo Go began road testing in London on July 28 with Freenow by Lyft, with safety operators on board and public rides planned for 2027, subject to regulatory approval.
Baidu also has a separate agreement to put its robotaxis on Uber’s platform in markets outside the United States and mainland China.
From Zagreb to 2,000 Cars
Pony.ai and Uber first announced their partnership in May 2025, saying Pony.ai robotaxis would launch on the Uber app first in a key Middle East market later that year.
That launch has not been announced, and the companies’ latest joint statement, in August, still described the Middle East only as part of their plans.
Pony.ai’s commercial pilot in Doha, which began in December 2025 with safety operators on board, runs through the Karwa app of Qatar’s national mobility provider Mowasalat, not Uber.
The partnership took shape in Europe instead, through a three-way deal with Croatian mobility company Verne in March.
Under that arrangement, Pony.ai supplies its Gen-7 autonomous driving system, Verne owns and operates the fleet, and Uber offers the service on its app alongside Verne’s own.
Verne launched paid robotaxi rides in Zagreb in April, using Pony.ai’s system on the BAIC Arcfox Alpha T5 with a safety operator on board.
In August, Pony.ai and Uber said they plan to deploy more than 2,000 Pony.ai robotaxis across Europe, expanding from Zagreb to four more cities that have not been named.
“The next chapter for autonomous mobility is about moving from individual launches to repeatable commercial scale,” said Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s Global Head of Autonomous Mobility & Delivery.
The companies did not disclose financial terms, and said vehicle funding and ownership may differ by market, with local fleet partners handling day-to-day operations.
Zagreb riders have been able to book the cars through Uber since August, when requesting UberX or Comfort, with a licensed operator behind the wheel.
Pony.ai and Verne began fully driverless test rides with invited passengers on a 22-kilometre route between Verne’s headquarters, a Zagreb business district and the city’s airport on Sept. 10.
By then, the Zagreb fleet had covered more than 200,000 kilometres and completed several thousand customer rides, according to the companies.
Uber has since completed its planned investment in Verne.
“I can confirm – yes Uber has invested in Verne,” Verne CEO Marko Pejković wrote on LinkedIn, without disclosing the size of the stake.
Pony.ai’s Numbers
Pony.ai’s revenue rose 68.8% to $36.2 million in the second quarter, while robotaxi revenue jumped 691.2% to $12.1 million, and its net loss narrowed to $45.4 million.
The company had 1,975 robotaxis at the end of June and said in May it aims to reach 3,500 vehicles and more than 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026.
It says its planned and potential deployments outside China exceed 4,000 vehicles, including the more than 2,000 under the Uber plan for Europe.
Pony.ai says its Gen-7 system cut the bill of materials for its autonomous driving kit by 70% from the previous generation.
In Shenzhen, each Gen-7 robotaxi averaged 338 yuan ($50) in daily net revenue and 23 orders a day in February, a level Pony.ai says puts the city’s fleet at unit-economics breakeven.
The Gen-7 cars in Zagreb use a Pony.ai domain controller built on Nvidia‘s DRIVE AGX platform.
Pony.ai also works with other platforms, including a Luxembourg test programme with Bolt and Stellantis.
Bloomberg reported in October 2025 that Uber planned to invest about $100 million in Pony.ai’s Hong Kong listing, which neither company has confirmed.
Uber’s Wider Bet
Uber said on Aug. 5 that it had pledged more than $10 billion to expand its robotaxi network, mainly through equity investments in autonomous driving partners and support for fleet operations.
At the time, Uber was offering autonomous rides in seven cities and said it expected to reach at least 15 by the end of 2026.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in February that Uber intends to be “the largest facilitator of AV trips in the world” by 2029.
In Europe, Uber is also working with WeRide, which won Spain’s first Level 4 permit with Uber for a 20-vehicle Madrid fleet last month.
