Robotaxis coming to Europe as Uber and China's Pony team up

Tech Software & Services Written by: Proactive 11:14 Fri 14 Aug 2026 --> Edited by: Jamie Ashcroft Disclaimer No investment advice About this content Editorial Standards & Policies Share article About this content × About Proactive Proactive leads the world in up-to-the-minute, multi-media news provision, events organisation, investor relations management and investor research Read more About the publisher Proactive financial news and online broadcast teams provide fast, accessible, informative and actionable business and finance news content to a global investment audience. All our content is produced independently by our experienced and qualified teams of news journalists. Proactive news team spans the world’s key finance and investing hubs with bureaus and studios in London, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney and Perth. We are experts in medium and small-cap markets, we also keep our community up to date with blue-chip companies, commodities and broader investment stories. This is content that excites and engages motivated private investors. The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies. Use of technology Proactive has always been a forward looking and enthusiastic technology adopter. Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows. Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation. Uber Technologies Inc ( NYSE:UBER XETRA:UT8 ) View Price & Profile Robotaxis coming to Europe as Uber and China's Pony team up Published: 11:14 14 Aug 2026 BST Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER, XETRA:UT8) , the ride-hailing platform, and Pony.ai, the Chinese autonomous vehicle developer, have expanded their partnership, planning to deploy 2,000 self-driving taxis across Europe and to extend their robotaxi cooperation to the Middle East. The agreement follows the launch of a commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia's capital, in late March. The partnership will roll out robotaxis to four other European cities, although the companies did not name the locations or provide an exact timeframe. It is part of Uber's push to establish a larger fleet that, in turn, can generate more operational data to help demonstrate safety to regulators and boost efficiency. Chinese competitors like Baidu.com (NASDAQ:BIDU) ( Baidu.com (NASDAQ:BIDU) ), Apollo Go and WeRide are simultaneously accelerating their plans and tests to operate autonomous rides in Europe. Uber and WeRide announced plans in June to launch the first robotaxi pilot in Spain in Madrid later this year, alongside existing partnerships in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOG) robotaxi operator, Waymo, is meanwhile testing rides in London. The competition will be global. Waymo has a global fleet of around 5,000 vehicles, primarily in the United States, but it is now also engaging with international officials to establish a foundation for global operations alongside its planned rollout in Tokyo. Uber has announced that its Japanese subsidiary signed an agreement with a local taxi operator to manage daily fleet operations for a test deployment in Tokyo later this year. Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of Uber, earlier this month told investors that the company aims to become the leading global commercialisation platform for autonomous vehicles. Key to the strategy will be the accumulation of a comprehensive data set to share with partners to accelerate autonomous vehicle development. Pony.ai is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings on Tuesday. Continue reading