Uber Launches European Robotaxi Rides in Zagreb
Uber, Pony.ai and Croatian operator Verne launched autonomous rides in Zagreb on August 19, making it the first European city where users can book a self-driving vehicle through Uber's app, Reuters reports. The service is initially available in selected areas, including the city center, with a licensed operator onboard. Riders request an UberX or Comfort trip and receive autonomous-vehicle details if one is available.
Uber, Pony.ai and Croatian mobility company Verne launched autonomous rides in Zagreb on August 19, making the Croatian capital the first European city where passengers can book a self-driving vehicle through the Uber app, Reuters reports. The initial service covers selected areas including the city center, and a licensed operator remains onboard to monitor the vehicle.
Riders request an UberX or Comfort trip in the Uber app. When an autonomous vehicle is available, the app displays vehicle details and rider instructions, according to Reuters. ITS International reports that Zagreb service hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and that coverage is intended to expand over time.
Three-company operating model
The deployment divides the robotaxi stack among three partners. Reuters reports that Pony.ai supplies the autonomous-driving technology, Verne owns and operates the fleet, and Uber provides ride-hailing-platform integration. ITS International describes the division more broadly as a combination of Level 4 autonomy, a mobility platform, and day-to-day fleet operations.
That split matters because robotaxi commercialization requires more than an automated driving system. Fleet maintenance, vehicle ownership, dispatch, rider support, payment, local operating procedures, and regulatory compliance are distinct functions. Industry deployments commonly use partnerships to distribute those functions between an autonomy developer, platform operator, and local fleet company rather than placing them within one organization.
Verne CEO Marko Pejkovic said the Uber integration gives customers another means of accessing Verne rides and called it the first time autonomous rides have been available through Uber in Europe, according to Silicon Republic. Silicon Republic also reports that Verne introduced AV booking through its own app in Zagreb in April and subsequently completed "thousands" of AV trips.
Human supervision remains in the initial service
The Zagreb launch is not initially a fully driverless operation. Reuters reported that the companies are using a licensed operator during the early phase while working toward fully autonomous operations. ITS International likewise reported that a human operator is monitoring from behind the wheel at this stage.
The operational distinction is material for practitioners evaluating autonomy claims. A vehicle equipped with Level 4 software can still be deployed with an onboard safety operator, which changes the economics, remote-support needs, and evidence available about unsupervised performance. The sources do not provide disengagement rates, fleet size, vehicle model, operational-design-domain boundaries, or a date for a driverless Zagreb rollout.
European expansion framework
The Zagreb deployment advances Uber and Pony.ai's partnership, which began in 2025 in international markets outside the United States, according to Silicon Republic. Reuters reports that the partners intend to add service in other European cities. ITS International reports an agreement to deploy more than 2,000 Pony.ai robotaxis across Europe, with four additional European cities identified as part of the expansion framework, though locations and deployment dates were not disclosed.
Pony.ai founder and CEO James Peng described the expanded agreement as an important new phase in the companies' partnership, according to ITS International. Uber's global head of autonomous mobility and delivery, Sarfraz Maredia, said the next stage of autonomous mobility concerns moving from individual launches toward repeatable commercial scale, ITS International reported.
For European mobility and ML infrastructure teams, Zagreb offers a concrete example of a platform-mediated robotaxi rollout with a local fleet operator and an onboard supervisor. The more consequential technical and business questions, including supervised-to-driverless transition criteria, fleet utilization, and service reliability outside a limited operating area, remain undisclosed.
Key Points
- 1Uber's Zagreb launch creates Europe's first Uber-app autonomous ride service, combining Pony.ai driving software with Verne's local fleet operations.
- 2Licensed onboard operators mean the initial deployment is supervised, so it should not be treated as evidence of fully driverless commercial operations.
- 3The reported 2,000-vehicle European framework illustrates how robotaxi scale increasingly depends on platform, autonomy, and fleet partners sharing operational roles.
Scoring Rationale
This is a notable European commercial robotaxi deployment through a major consumer mobility platform and a multi-party operating model. Its near-term technical significance is moderated by onboard human supervision and limited disclosed performance data, but the reported 2,000-vehicle expansion framework makes it relevant to autonomy practitioners.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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