Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle manufacturer Pony.ai plan to launch a robot taxi service in London, as part of their expanded collaboration to introduce driverless cars to Europe. The two companies announced on Thursday that they will begin testing Pony.ai's seventh-generation robot taxis in London in the coming weeks.
This news is the latest example of Uber's significant advancement in autonomous vehicle technology through its continuously expanding network of collaborations and investments. Over the past few years, the ride-hailing company has partnered with more than 30 autonomous vehicle companies, including Pony.ai, in its bid to gain a share of the autonomous delivery and ride-hailing markets.
Uber expects to provide autonomous driving car travel services in as many as 15 cities around the world by the end of 2026, with the U.S. and international markets each accounting for roughly half of that number.
Uber and Pony.ai first established a partnership in May 2025, initially focusing on the Middle East region. Since then, their collaboration has expanded to Europe, with plans to deploy 2,000 robotic taxis, starting with the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.
In August 2026, two companies, together with a third-party partner Verne, launched an autonomous driving ride-hailing service in Zagreb. Under this arrangement, Pony.ai provided the autonomous driving system, as well as the Arcfox Alpha T5 robotic taxis jointly developed with the Chinese automobile manufacturer BAIC. A startup company Verne, founded by Rimac Group's founder and CEO Mate Rimac, was responsible for owning and operating the fleet, while Uber provided its extensive ride-hailing network platform.
The services in London will follow a similar model, although the two companies have not yet specified who will own and operate the fleet.
Xiaoma Zhixing will not be Uber's only robot taxi partner in London. Uber has also reached a partnership and made an investment with a British autonomous driving startup Wayve, and plans to launch robot taxi services in that city as well.
In February 2026, Wayve raised $1.2 billion in its first round of financing, with investments from Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Uber. Since Uber is also planning to invest an additional $300 million on the condition that Wayve deploys robot taxis starting from London, the total amount raised in this round of financing could potentially reach up to $1.5 billion.
Uber has also adopted this multi-partner strategy in other regions. For example, in Dubai, Uber has reached agreements with Baidu and Wen远知行 to launch robot taxi services.
Meanwhile, Pony.ai has launched robot taxi services in four cities in China and established cooperative relationships with local transportation authorities. The company is also advancing its expansion into European and Middle Eastern markets, including Qatar.
