Uber ups robotaxi offensive in Europe, with partnership expansion

Uber is pushing harder into Europe’s robotaxi market, this time through a bigger deal with Pony.ai, the Chinese autonomous driving company. The two say they will deploy more than 2,000 self-driving taxis across four European cities, a sign that the commercial side of autonomous vehicles is moving from pilot chatter to actual rollout plans.

The partnership is not brand new. Uber and Pony.ai first said in May 2025 that they wanted to bring Pony.ai robotaxis onto Uber’s platform in international markets. Earlier this year, they also teamed up with Croatian mobility company Verne to launch commercial robotaxis in Zagreb. That gives the expansion a bit more weight than a press release full of promises; there is already at least one European city in the mix.

But the company is not saying which four cities are next, or when the vehicles will show up. That keeps the rollout firmly in the “coming soon” category, even as the number itself is hard to ignore. Pony.ai, for its part, already runs autonomous driving systems and self-driving trucks in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The timing matters because Europe is getting crowded. Waymo has reportedly set up entities in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany. Uber and WeRide plan a robotaxi pilot in Madrid this year. Lyft is looking at Europe next year. Baidu says its autonomous driving unit has already done test drives in Switzerland, while BMW and Volkswagen have also been poking at the tech. Pony.ai’s chief executive, James Peng, says the goal is safe, reliable robotaxi services at scale. For now, the real story is that everyone wants a European foothold before the market firms up.