Pony.ai and Verne Begin Fully Driverless Robotaxi Rides in Zagreb

ZAGREB, Croatia - Pony.ai and Croatian operator Verne said on Sept. 10 they have started fully driverless robotaxi test rides with invited passengers on public roads in Zagreb, describing the program as Europe’s first passenger service without an onboard autonomous-vehicle operator.

Photo: Verne

The rides follow a 22-kilometer route linking Verne’s headquarters and a central business district with Franjo Tuđman Airport. Verne’s remote operations team monitors the vehicles but does not drive them; Pony.ai’s seventh-generation system performs the full driving task, according to statements from both companies. Routes are expected to expand in the coming months with the aim of covering Verne’s wider Zagreb operating area.

Photo: Verne

The milestone comes a little more than five months after Pony.ai, Verne and Uber launched what they called Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb. Under that joint model, Pony.ai supplies the autonomous driving stack, Verne runs day-to-day operations and Uber provides platform access. Since the April launch, Verne said its fleet has logged more than 200,000 kilometers, completed several thousand customer rides and averaged a 4.7 out of 5 passenger rating - operations that previously relied on an onboard AV operator.

Photo: Verne

The Zagreb test vehicles use Pony.ai’s seventh-generation robotaxi, based on an Arcfox Alpha T5 crossover fitted with a Pony.ai L4 domain controller built on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX and running DriveOS. The companies said the rides are conducted under Croatian approvals for autonomous vehicle testing with passengers. Pony.ai said it already runs fully driverless commercial services in four Chinese cities and has logged more than 100 million kilometers of autonomous operations worldwide, including more than 40 million in fully driverless mode. Separately, the company has outlined plans with Uber for more than 2,000 robotaxis across Europe; EU-wide type approval for fully automated cars remains limited, so national permits still shape how far services can expand beyond Croatia.

Photo: Verne