Uber partners with China’s Pony.ai for 2,000 robotaxis in Europe

BEIJING — U.S. ride-hailing giant Uber is ramping up its global robotaxi coverage with operator Pony.ai.

The companies plan to deploy 2,000 of Pony.ai’s self-driving taxis across Europe, and expand the robotaxi partnership to the Middle East, they announced Friday.

In late March, Uber and Pony.ai launched a commercial robotaxi service in Croatia’s capital Zagreb — which they claim is the first in Europe.

The partnership announced Friday will roll out robotaxis to four other European cities. The companies did not name the cities or share an exact timeframe.

Having a large-enough vehicle fleet is critical for commercialization. The more cars available, the more data can be collected to demonstrate safety to regulators and boost operational efficiency. Greater availability encourages more people to use the service.

Alphabet-backed robotaxi operator Waymo is the global leader with a fleet of around 5,000 vehicles, primarily in the U.S. It is testing rides in London, and reportedly set up new entities in four major EU economies in June.

Waymo also has plans underway in Tokyo, and is engaging with officials around the world to “lay the groundwork for global operations,” it said in a statement to CNBC.

Chinese rivals Baidu Apollo Go and WeRide, meanwhile, are ramping up plans and tests for operating autonomous rides in Europe.

Uber is part of many of their plans.

WeRide and Uber in June announced plans to launch Spain’s first robotaxi taxi pilot in Madrid later this year. The two companies also partner in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Uber on Thursday announced its Japanese subsidiary signed an agreement with a local taxi operator to manage daily fleet operations for a test deployment of robotaxis in Tokyo later this year.

Uber’s goal is “to become the world’s leading commercialization platform for autonomous vehicles,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said earlier this month, according to a FactSet earnings call transcript.

Part of that strategy is gathering “a super set of data” that it can share with its partners to accelerate autonomous vehicle development, he said.

Pony.ai is scheduled to release quarterly earnings Tuesday.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.