Pony AI has started fully driverless robotaxi test rides with passengers on public roads in Zagreb, marking a European first.

The milestone represents a significant step towards fully driverless commercial operations.

The test rides take place along a 22km route linking autonomous driving firm Verne’s Croatian headquarters and one of Zagreb’s main business districts with Franjo Tuđman Airport. The fully driverless routes will be expanded in the next few months, with the aim to cover the whole operating area in Zagreb.

The milestone comes just over five months after Pony.ai, Verne and Uber announced their partnership to launch Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service. Under the joint deployment model, Pony.ai provides the autonomous driving technology, Verne leads the service operations and Uber offers access to the service through its platform. Since the service operated by Verne was launched in early April, the fleet has logged more than 200,000km in operations, completed several thousand customer rides and achieved an average passenger rating of 4.7 out of 5.

Moving from commercial operations with an onboard operator to fully driverless testing represents an important step for both Pony.ai and Verne. It demonstrates Pony.ai’s ability to apply technology and operational experience from its fully driverless commercial services in China to real-world deployment in Europe, supported by Verne’s operational readiness and work to meet regulatory requirements.

“Fully driverless passenger rides in Zagreb mark an important step in Pony.ai’s international growth,” said James Peng, CEO of Pony.ai. “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 commercialisation. The progress in Zagreb provides a strong foundation for expanding fully driverless mobility across Europe and other international markets.”

Marko Pejković, CEO of Verne, added: “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 towards fully driverless operations. This is a major milestone on the path to scaling autonomous mobility in Europe.”

The test rides use Pony.ai’s seventh-generation robotaxi, powered by a Pony.ai-developed L4 domain controller built on Nvidia Drive AGX, running on the safety-certified DriveOS operating system. The robotaxi features a safety architecture combining 360-degree sensor coverage with multiple layers of redundancy and fail-operational capabilities. This architecture has been validated through fully driverless commercial operations in major Chinese cities across complex urban traffic and adverse weather conditions. Pony.ai operates fully driverless commercial services in four major Chinese cities and has logged more than 100 million kilometres in autonomous operations worldwide, including over 40 million kilometres in fully driverless mode.

The fully driverless rides in Zagreb are being conducted in accordance with applicable Croatian regulations and the approvals required for autonomous vehicle testing with passengers on public roads.

The milestone further advances Pony.ai’s dual-engine growth strategy, under which the company is scaling its robotaxi business across China and international markets. Overseas, Pony.ai is expanding through its joint deployment model, which brings together autonomous driving technology, access to rider demand and day-to-day fleet operations. The mix of partners can vary by market, allowing the model to adapt to local requirements while supporting a more capital-efficient path to scale.

Recent partnerships have expanded Chinese firm Pony.ai’s overseas deployment pipeline to more than 4000 robotaxis, including plans with Uber (www.uber.com) to deploy more than 2000 vehicles across Europe. Pony.ai is targeting a global fleet of more than 3500 robotaxis by the end of 2026, with operations spanning more than 20 cities worldwide.

Founded in 2016, Pony.ai has expanded its presence across China, Europe, east Asia, the Middle East and other regions.

Named after Jules Verne, Verne (www.letsverne.com) is building the operational layer for autonomous mobility in Europe and beyond. Since 2019, Verne has worked on deploying autonomous ride-hailing in complex urban environments through operations, integration and regulatory enablement, making it part of everyday life.