Uber and Pony.ai Set Their Sights on London Robotaxis

Uber is widening its robotaxi ambitions once more, this time teaming up with China’s Pony.ai to bring driverless rides to London. The two companies confirmed they intend to start testing Pony.ai’s Gen-7 robotaxis on the British capital’s streets within the next few weeks, an early step toward a commercial service.

The move fits a broader pattern for Uber, which has spent the past several years assembling a sprawling network of autonomous-vehicle allies rather than building the technology itself. More than 30 self-driving companies now sit inside that web, and the ride-hailing giant has said it aims to offer autonomous trips in as many as 15 cities worldwide by the end of 2026, split roughly evenly between the United States and markets abroad.

Uber and Pony.ai first linked up in May 2025, with the Middle East as their initial focus. That relationship has since stretched into Europe, where the pair have outlined plans to roll out 2,000 robotaxis, kicking off in Zagreb, Croatia. In August 2026 the two firms, working alongside a third partner called Verne, began running an autonomous ride-hailing service there. Under that setup, Pony.ai provides the self-driving system and the Arcfox Alpha T5 robotaxi, a vehicle developed with Chinese automaker BAIC. Verne, a startup founded by Rimac Group chief Mate Rimac, owns and operates the fleet, while Uber opens the door to its ride-hailing customer base.

London is expected to follow a comparable blueprint, though the companies have not yet said who will own or run the fleet. Pony.ai will not be alone in the city: Uber has also backed Britain’s Wayve and intends to launch a robotaxi service with it. In February 2026 Wayve closed a $1.2 billion round that drew money from Microsoft, Nvidia and Uber, with the total potentially climbing to $1.5 billion via an extra $300 million from Uber, tied to Wayve deploying robotaxis beginning in London.

That multi-partner approach is familiar territory for Uber. In Dubai, it has signed separate agreements with Baidu and WeRide to get robotaxi services off the ground. Pony.ai, for its part, already runs robotaxi services in four Chinese cities and has worked with local transportation authorities as it pushes into European and Middle Eastern markets, Qatar among them. The London trial will be a test of whether that playbook can translate to one of Europe’s most tightly regulated and closely watched transport markets.