Gasgoo Munich- Pony.ai and autonomous mobility firm Verne announced on Sept. 10 that they have launched fully driverless Robotaxi passenger testing on public roads in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. The companies call it a first for Europe. The 22 km route connects Verne's headquarters with Franjo Tuđman Airport in Zagreb's main business district, with plans to gradually expand coverage across the city's operating zones.Image source: Pony.aiThis test comes just over five months after Pony.ai, Verne, and Uber announced a partnership to launch Europe's first commercial Robotaxi service. Under the joint fleet model, Pony.ai supplies the full-stack autonomous driving technology, Verne handles local operations, and Uber provides the platform entry. Since going live in early April, the fleet has logged more than 200,000 km and completed thousands of rides, earning an average passenger rating of 4.7 out of 5.The tests employ Pony.ai's seventh-generation Robotaxi, equipped with a self-developed L4 domain controller based on the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX platform and running safety-certified DriveOS. The vehicles feature 360-degree sensor coverage, multiple redundancies, and fail-operational capabilities. Pony.ai noted that it already operates fully driverless commercial services in China's tier-one cities, with over 100 million km of global road testing—more than 40 million of which were fully driverless. The initiative complies with Croatian regulations and has secured necessary approvals.Pony.ai CEO James Peng called the move a significant step in the company's internationalization strategy. Verne CEO Marko Pejkovic described it as a critical leap from operations with safety operators to a fully driverless model. Pony.ai plans to deploy more than 4,000 Robotaxis overseas—including over 2,000 in Europe through its partnership with Uber—and aims to operate a global fleet exceeding 3,500 vehicles across more than 20 cities by the end of 2026.
