Al Root

Robo-taxis are coming to Europe.

Thursday, Uber Technologies announced it is launching the first commercial robo-taxi service in Europe, partnering with China's self-driving technology company Pony.ai and privately held Verne, which will manage the fleet of robo-taxis.

Service will start in Croatia's capital, Zagreb, "soon," according to the companies. The three companies have begun on-road testing using Pony.ai's Gen-7 autonomous driving system, deployed on the Arcfox Alpha T5 Robotaxi.

Arcfox cars are manufactured by the Chinese car maker BAIC and integrate technology from the telecom company Huawei.

Pony.ai is developing autonomous driving technology similar to Alphabet's Waymo or Tesla. Its technology operates robo-taxis in Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

The company completed its initial public offering in 2024, selling stock at $13 per share. Pony.ai shares were down 12% Thursday at $10.03, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively.

Uber, of course, operates the largest ride-hailing network in the U.S. Investors have worried about robo-taxi disruption, but Uber is leaning into the trend, partnering with Pony.ai, Waymo, Avride, Rivian, and others to deliver robo-taxi service inside the Uber network.

Uber stock was down 0.7%.

The lack of a bump shows that investors are becoming inured to robo-taxi announcements. That's another sign that the technology is ready. Thousands of robo-taxis are operating in the U.S. and China. Waymo, for its part, is in 10 U.S. cities. Europe has so far lagged, with services still in the test phase.

As service spreads, investors will be looking for winners and profits.

Pony.ai generated $90 million in 2025 sales and an operating loss of about $284 million. Sales are growing rapidly. Wall Street projects 2026 sales of $151 million. Positive operating profits are expected by 2029, when sales are projected to reach $1.7 billion.

That implies Pony.ai can scale from hundreds of robo-taxis to tens of thousands, or a doubling every year for the next three or four years.

That's what the industry is on the precipice of, and the pace investors should watch for from all the self-driving car companies.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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March 26, 2026 09:53 ET (13:53 GMT)

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