Zagreb has become the unlikely proving ground for Europe’s first fully driverless taxi rides, putting the continent on a collision course with a technology that China and the United States embraced years ago.
Uber kicked off autonomous vehicle trials in the Croatian capital back in April, teaming up with local operator Verne and Chinese artificial intelligence firm Pony.ai. The American mobility giant now says it plans to replicate that model across dozens of European cities, with Manchester next in line.
The Zagreb operation stands as the most mature of more than 30 Uber partnerships scattered across Europe. Test vehicles have already logged 200,000 kilometres on city streets, always with a human safety operator behind the wheel. That changed on 10 September, when a select group of riders took the first driverless trips along a 22-kilometre corridor linking Verne’s headquarters to Franjo Tuđman Airport.
Riders currently book the service through the standard Uber app, choosing between conventional drivers and AI-piloted vehicles under UberX or Comfort categories. The fleet consists of roughly 30 Chinese-made BAIC Arcfox electric SUVs, each equipped with Pony.ai’s Gen-7 autonomous driving system. That kit packs 34 sensors, including nine LiDAR units, 14 cameras and four millimetre-wave radars.
Annie Duvnjak, Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility operations, described the experience as “magically boring.” Passengers notice the empty driver’s seat for a few minutes, then settle into what feels like an ordinary ride.
Meanwhile, the regulatory picture remains the partnership’s biggest hurdle. Europe’s fragmented legal framework for autonomous vehicles has left the region trailing the US and China, where commercial robotaxis have operated for years. Verne handles those negotiations as the local service operator and fleet owner.
Pony.ai contributes the virtual driver technology, training its AI in simulated environments before letting it loose on real roads. The company holds the distinction of being first to secure a taxi licence for autonomous vehicles in China.
Manchester tests are already under way. Beyond that, Uber has flagged London, Madrid, Munich and Zurich as candidate cities, with Brussels also under active discussion. The race to populate European streets with driverless taxis has shifted from hypothetical to operational.
