On April 8, 2026, a passenger in Zagreb flagged down a ride — and no human driver responded. A Pony.ai-equipped Arcfox Alpha T5 electric vehicle arrived instead, marking the commercial launch of Europe’s first Level 4 autonomous robotaxi service. The deployment is a three-way partnership between Pony.ai (the NASDAQ-listed Chinese AV company), Verne (a Rimac Group company), and Uber.
The service operates daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. across roughly 90 square kilometres of Zagreb’s city centre, extending to Zagreb Airport. Rides are booked through the Verne app, with Uber integration rolling out in coming weeks — Pony.ai’s first Uber-integrated deployment outside China. Safety operators remain onboard in this early phase.
A Partnership Model That Could Define European AV Expansion
The structure of this deployment is as significant as the deployment itself. Each partner brings something the others cannot: Pony.ai supplies the autonomous driving stack (its 7th-generation system), Verne provides the fleet ownership, local regulatory execution, and the Croatian brand credibility that comes from Mate Rimac’s profile in the country. Uber supplies distribution — the global ride-hailing network that transforms a niche local service into a product millions of travellers already know how to use.
Verne’s parent, the Rimac Group, is targeting expansion to 11 European Union, UK, and Middle Eastern cities, with 30 more under active consideration. Pony.ai’s stated global target is deployment in more than 20 cities by end of 2026. “This launch in Zagreb is a testament to the maturity and reliability of our autonomous driving technology, and our ability to operate in diverse global environments,” Pony.ai said in its press release.
Why Europe Has Lagged — and Why Croatia Moved First
The United States and China have been the primary theatres for AV commercial deployment. Waymo operates passenger rides in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Baidu’s Apollo Go runs in multiple Chinese cities. Europe, by contrast, has seen extensive AV trials but no commercial passenger service — until now.
The regulatory environment is the primary reason. EU member states must each interpret the framework set by the UN’s UNECE Working Party 29, and most have chosen conservative interpretations requiring extensive local trials before commercial approval. Croatia’s regulatory approval — which Verne led — establishes a documented pathway that other EU jurisdictions can now evaluate and potentially replicate.
That matters enormously for Waymo, Mobileye, and Zoox, all of which are eyeing European markets. A tested EU approval process, even from a smaller member state, reduces the regulatory uncertainty that has kept Western operators on the sidelines.
The Broader Stakes for Autonomous Vehicles in 2026
Pony.ai has been public on NASDAQ since 2024, and its stock has tracked closely with investor sentiment about the AV sector’s transition from perpetual-pilot to revenue-generating business. The Zagreb launch is directly relevant to that investor narrative: it proves the company can operate outside China and navigate Western regulatory environments.
Rimac’s involvement is also a signal about how European capital and industrial expertise are positioning for the AV transition. Rather than waiting for Waymo or Tesla to arrive, Verne is building local operational infrastructure now — with the fleet, regulatory approvals, and app experience — and licensing the hardest part (the AV stack) from the most commercially advanced global provider it can access.
Zagreb may be a modest start in population terms, but as a regulatory and commercial proof-of-concept, it is disproportionately important. The next 11 cities on Verne’s list are watching closely — and so is every AV company that has been waiting for someone to break open the European market.
