Pony.ai and Verne Start Fully Driverless Robotaxi Test Rides in Zagreb
Pony.ai and Verne have begun fully driverless Robotaxi test rides with passengers on public roads in Zagreb, a European first, along a 22-kilometer route to Franjo Tuđman Airport Zagreb.
- 22 kilometers
- More than 200,000
- More than 100 million
- More than 3,500 Robotaxis
What Happened
Pony.ai and Verne said fully driverless Robotaxi test rides with passengers have begun on public roads in Zagreb, Croatia, which the companies call a European first. The rides follow a 22-kilometer route linking Verne's headquarters and one of Zagreb's main business districts with Franjo Tuđman Airport Zagreb, and the fully driverless routes will be expanded in the next few months with the aim of covering the whole operating area in Zagreb. Under the partners' joint deployment model, Pony.ai supplies the autonomous driving technology, Verne leads service operations and Uber provides access to the service through its platform. Pony.ai is scaling through its "dual-engine" growth strategy across China and international markets, where the mix of partners can vary by market to adapt to local requirements and support a more capital-efficient path to scale; recent partnerships have expanded its overseas deployment pipeline to more than 4,000 Robotaxis, including plans with Uber to deploy more than 2,000 vehicles across Europe. The rides are being conducted in accordance with applicable Croatian regulations and the approvals required for autonomous vehicle testing with passengers on public roads.
100 millionkm
Includes more than 40 million kilometers driven in fully driverless mode.
- Commercial Robotaxi operations with an onboard AV operator
- Fully driverless test rides with passengers on public roads
- Fully driverless commercial operations
Verne's Robotaxi service launches, after which the fleet logs more than 200,000 kilometers in operations, completes several thousand customer rides and reaches an average passenger rating of 4.7 out of 5.
Pony.ai and Verne start fully driverless Robotaxi test rides with invited passengers in Zagreb, a European first.
The fully driverless routes in Zagreb are to be expanded, with the aim of covering the whole operating area in Zagreb.
Pony.ai targets a global fleet of more than 3,500 Robotaxis, with operations spanning more than 20 cities worldwide.
“Fully driverless passenger rides in Zagreb mark an important step in Pony.ai's international growth. Together with Verne, we are demonstrating how Pony.ai's Virtual Driver can combine with Verne's local operating and passenger-service capabilities to support a scalable path to commercialization. The progress in Zagreb provides a strong foundation for expanding fully driverless mobility across Europe and other international markets.”
“Five months ago, we launched Europe's first commercial Robotaxi service. We are now taking the next step, moving from autonomous driving with an onboard AV operator toward fully driverless operations. This is a major milestone on the path to scaling autonomous mobility in Europe.”
- Pony.ai's seventh-generation Robotaxi
- A Pony.ai-developed L4 domain controller built on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX, running the safety-certified DriveOS operating system
- A safety architecture combining 360-degree sensor coverage with multiple layers of redundancy and fail-operational capabilities
- The architecture has been validated through fully driverless commercial operations in major Chinese cities in complex urban traffic and adverse weather conditions
- Pony.ai currently operates fully driverless commercial services in four major Chinese cities
Previously from Pony.ai Inc.
Our earlier coverage reported that in August 2026 Zagreb became the first European city where riders could book an autonomous ride through the Uber app, powered by Pony.ai and operated by Verne. We also reported that Pony.ai and Uber expanded their partnership to deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis across four additional European cities and the Middle East, building on a partnership that began in Zagreb.
- Uber launches first autonomous rides in Europe via Pony.ai and Verne in Zagreb
- Pony.ai and Uber Expand Partnership to Deploy Over 2,000 Robotaxis in Europe
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Pony.ai Inc.'s official releases.
Why this matters
Fully driverless passenger rides on European public roads are new, making Zagreb a test case for whether robotaxi services can scale across the region. The milestone involves the three partners — Pony.ai on technology, Verne on operations and Uber on rider demand — and points to how the model could be replicated in other markets.
Terms in This Story
- L4
- Level 4 automation, in which a vehicle can handle an entire trip without human intervention within a defined operating area.
- Domain controller
- A central computing unit that processes sensor data and runs the software controlling a vehicle's automated driving functions.
- Fail-operational
- A design approach in which essential functions keep working after a component failure instead of the system shutting down entirely.
- Robotaxi
- A ride service using vehicles that drive themselves without a human safety driver and can be booked by passengers.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.