Pony.ai's Gen-7 Robotaxis to Begin London Road Tests Within Weeks; James Peng: London Is a Huge Market and Competition Is Great
Uber and autonomous-driving company Pony.ai announced on October 8 that Pony.ai's seventh-generation robotaxis will begin road tests in London in the coming weeks. Neither company has announced a date for a passenger service in London, nor the size of the London fleet or its local operator.
London is the second stop in the partners' European rollout. The two companies have worked together since 2025, starting in the Middle East. In August this year, vehicles powered by Pony.ai's system and operated by Verne, part of the Rimac Group, went live in Zagreb, Croatia, where passengers can already book rides through the Uber app — a service the partners describe as Europe's first commercial robotaxi service with safety drivers. Under a plan set out in August, their European expansion targets more than 2,000 robotaxis across five cities.
Pony.ai founder and CEO James Peng, speaking about London at the MOVE 2026 conference, said: "London is such a huge market with great potential. So I think competition is great." He said the company is confident in its technology and welcomes giving London passengers more choice. In its October 8 announcement, Pony.ai said testing is expected to start in the coming weeks and that it looks forward to working with local and national government officials and partners as plans progress toward trials under the UK's AV regulations.
London's robotaxi field is already crowded: British startup Wayve runs supervised rides on Uber's network using 15 modified Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles, Waymo is testing in the city, and Baidu's Apollo Go is testing with Lyft. Britain's Automated Vehicles Act 2024 created a route to approval for passenger services with no driver, and London is the first large European capital where several operators are lining up to use it. Founded in Silicon Valley in 2016 and headquartered in Guangzhou, Pony.ai operates robotaxi services in multiple Chinese cities. (GSM, based on TechCrunch and Zag Daily reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：小马智行在广州南沙运营的Robotaxi（2024年资料照片，非伦敦路测车辆）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY 2.0）。Photo: A Pony.ai robotaxi operating in Nansha, Guangzhou, in 2024 (file photo; not a London test vehicle). Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
