inDrive, Pony.ai and NVIDIA sign MOU to explore robotaxi service in Kazakhstan
inDrive has signed a memorandum of understanding with NVIDIA and Pony.ai to explore bringing Pony.ai robotaxis onto its ride-hailing platform in Kazakhstan, starting in Astana.
- approximately 1.7 million
- Level 4-ready
- Gen-7
What Happened
inDrive announced in Astana on October 23, 2026 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with NVIDIA and Pony.ai to explore the future of autonomous ride-hailing, with Kazakhstan serving as the first test market. The three companies will evaluate the technical, operational, regulatory and commercial feasibility of offering Level 4-ready autonomous vehicles to riders through the inDrive app in Kazakhstan. No commercial start date was given; the companies said the launch would follow an agreement with the government of Kazakhstan.
- Pony.ai would provide its seventh-generation (Gen-7) robotaxis.
- inDrive would provide the ride-hailing platform and run the service.
- NVIDIA would support the project with NVIDIA AI infrastructure, built on the NVIDIA Hyperion reference sensor and compute platform for Level 4 autonomous vehicles and robotaxis, combined with the NVIDIA Alpamayo Stack and the NVIDIA Halos full-stack safety system.
Kazakhstan was chosen first for its regulatory readiness, following the creation of the country's first structured legal framework for driverless transport as part of its Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, together with its position as a leading Central Asian economy. inDrive and Pony.ai plan to launch robotaxis in Astana using Pony.ai's Gen-7 robotaxis, which incorporate multi-sensor fusion, system-level redundancy and fail-operational capabilities to support safe and reliable driverless operations. Pony.ai says its Level 4 autonomous driving technology has been validated through fully driverless commercial operations in major Chinese cities and real-world deployments across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. After the initial launch in Astana, the companies will assess whether the approach could be extended to other cities in Kazakhstan and to other countries where inDrive operates.
approximately 1.7 millionpeople
Astana is described as one of Central Asia's fastest-growing capitals, with growing demand for urban transportation.
“Autonomous mobility has the potential to make transportation more affordable and accessible in the cities we serve. Partnering with NVIDIA and Pony.ai, we want to understand, carefully and responsibly, how this technology could fit Kazakhstan's roads and communities - and what it could mean for riders and drivers across our markets. Kazakhstan's forward-looking approach to regulating autonomous vehicles creates the environment to do that, and that could serve as a model for other markets. In addition, Astana is also the second-coldest capital in the world, with long winters, snow and ice. Launching here will provide an important opportunity to evaluate autonomous driving technology in challenging winter conditions. Success in Astana could offer valuable insights for expanding autonomous mobility to other locations facing similar challenges.”
“Kazakhstan represents an exciting opportunity to bring autonomous mobility to a new market in Central Asia. Drawing on our experience in scaling fully driverless robotaxi operations in China and expanding into international markets, we look forward to working with inDrive and NVIDIA to explore how our proven technology can be adapted to local needs. This collaboration marks another step toward our vision of making autonomous mobility accessible to more people around the world.”
“Bringing autonomous mobility to more communities requires AI built for the complexity of real-world driving, with safety at its foundation. With NVIDIA Hyperion and the NVIDIA Halos safety system, inDrive and Pony.ai can explore a path to scalable robotaxi services in Kazakhstan, combining autonomous driving technology with a platform that connects millions of riders.”
Previously from Pony.ai Inc.
Pony.ai has been expanding outside China through partner-based deployments: in September 2026 it began fully driverless robotaxi test rides with passengers in Zagreb together with partner Verne, a European first, as its CFO described a model of scaling fare-charging driverless rides in China and testing partner-led operations in Europe. Its CFO has also said the company reached unit economics breakeven in Guangzhou and Shenzhen as its robotaxi fleet nears 2,000 vehicles, with a plan to put more than 2,000 robotaxis on European roads with Uber.
- Pony.ai CFO Leo Wang on Robotaxi Scale, Zagreb Driverless First and Uber's 2,000-Car Europe Goal
- Pony.ai CFO Leo Wang on Robotaxi Unit Economics, Europe and What Comes Next
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Pony.ai Inc.'s official releases.
Why this matters
The agreement is only an exploration, but it shows how robotaxis aim to enter new markets: a local ride-hailing platform, an autonomous-driving developer and an AI chip supplier working under local rules. Riders and drivers in inDrive's markets are directly affected, because the company says it wants to understand carefully what the technology could mean for both.
Terms in This Story
- Memorandum of understanding (MOU)
- A formal but typically non-binding agreement between organizations stating that they intend to work together, without committing either side to a final contract.
- Level 4 autonomy
- A stage of driving automation in which a vehicle can drive itself without a human fallback within a defined area or set of conditions.
- Fail-operational
- A design property meaning a system can keep carrying out its safety-critical function even after a component fails.
- Multi-sensor fusion
- Combining data from several sensors, such as cameras, radar and lidar, into a single picture of the vehicle's surroundings.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.