Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER, XETRA:UT8), the ride-hailing platform, and Pony.ai, the Chinese autonomous vehicle developer, have expanded their partnership, planning to deploy 2,000 self-driving taxis across Europe and to extend their robotaxi cooperation to the Middle East.
The agreement follows the launch of a commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia's capital, in late March. The partnership will roll out robotaxis to four other European cities, although the companies did not name the locations or provide an exact timeframe.
It is part of Uber's push to establish a larger fleet that, in turn, can generate more operational data to help demonstrate safety to regulators and boost efficiency.
Chinese competitors like Baidu.com (NASDAQ:BIDU) (Baidu.com (NASDAQ:BIDU)), Apollo Go and WeRide are simultaneously accelerating their plans and tests to operate autonomous rides in Europe.
Uber and WeRide announced plans in June to launch the first robotaxi pilot in Spain in Madrid later this year, alongside existing partnerships in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOG) robotaxi operator, Waymo, is meanwhile testing rides in London.
The competition will be global. Waymo has a global fleet of around 5,000 vehicles, primarily in the United States, but it is now also engaging with international officials to establish a foundation for global operations alongside its planned rollout in Tokyo.
Uber has announced that its Japanese subsidiary signed an agreement with a local taxi operator to manage daily fleet operations for a test deployment in Tokyo later this year.
Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of Uber, earlier this month told investors that the company aims to become the leading global commercialisation platform for autonomous vehicles.
Key to the strategy will be the accumulation of a comprehensive data set to share with partners to accelerate autonomous vehicle development.
Pony.ai is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings on Tuesday.
