In what is claimed to be a European first, Pony.ai Inc. and Verne are testing fully driverless robotaxis on public roads of Zagreb, Croatia. The tests are a step toward commercializing autonomous vehicles in the region.
The test rides will take place along a 22-kilometer route that links Verne’s headquarters in the city and one of Zagreb’s main business districts. The routes will be expanded in the coming months to cover the whole operating area in the city, the companies said.
The fully driverless robotaxi tests come after five months where Pony.ai, Verne and Uber launched the first commercial robotaxi service. The service combines Pony.ai’s autonomous driving technology, Verne’s service operations and Uber’s service platform. During that five-month run that started in April 2026, the fleet logged more than 200,000 kilometers in operations.
The companies said that this also is a move from an onboard safety driver to fully driverless testing for both Verne and Pony.ai.
“Fully driverless passenger rides in Zagreb mark an important step in Pony.ai’s international growth,” said James Peng, founder and 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 commercialization. The progress in Zagreb provides a strong foundation for expanding fully driverless mobility across Europe and other international markets.”
The rides
The rides will use Pony.ai’s seventh-generation robotaxi powered by a Level 4 autonomous driving domain controller using Nvidia’s Drive AGX technology. The robotaxi includes a 360-degree sensor coverage with multiple layers of redundancy and fail-operational capabilities, the companies said.
Pony.ai has been using the same architecture during it fully driverless commercial operations in major cities in China including Guangzhou and Beijing. Including its operation in China and other parts of the world, Pony.ai has logged more than 100 million kilometers in autonomous operations with 40 million kilometers in fully driverless mode.
While Pony.ai said it is developing its market in China on its own, it is expanding internationally through a joint development model to bring together:
- Autonomous driving technology
- Access to rider demand
- Day-to-day fleet operations
The company said this allows it to adapt models to local requirements while working with domestic vendors to support the driverless iniatives. Pony.ai said it has more than 4,000 robotaxis in the pipeline to be deployed internationally along with Uber to deploy over 2,000 vehicles across Europe. By the end of 2026, the goal is to have 3,500 of these robotaxis on the road globally, spanning over 20 cities.
