European Robotaxi ushered in the “thousand-vehicle scale” era. My Little Pony Zhixing (02026) and Uber plan to deploy more than 2,000 vehicles

On August 14, autonomous driving company PONY.US,02026 (PONY.US,02026) and global travel platform Uber announced that the two sides will further expand their strategic cooperation and deploy more than 2,000 Little Pony Robotaxis in five European cities. It is also one of Europe's largest Robotaxi deployment plans.

This cooperation will be extended to 5 European cities, including Zagreb, based on the existing commercial Robotaxi operation in Zagreb, Croatia. Specific implementation plans for each city will be announced in subsequent stages. The two sides also announced that the Zagreb service will soon be connected to the Uber platform, and users can call My Little Pony Robotaxi by opening the Uber app. In addition to Europe, the two sides will also deepen cooperation in the Middle East region and expand their global operational footprint.

Peng Jun, founder and CEO of My Little Pony Zhixing, said, “This expansion of cooperation marks an important stage in the cooperation between My Little Pony Zhixing and Uber, and reflects the mutual commitment of the two sides to bring safe and reliable Robotaxi services to more European cities. With Little Pony Smart's mature autonomous driving technology and operating experience, combined with Uber's global mobility platform and broad market coverage, we will build sustainable large-scale commercial operations in Europe and around the world.”

Sarfraz Maredia, head of Uber's global autonomous mobility and delivery business, said, “The next chapter of autonomous driving is moving from a single point of implementation to commercial operation that can be replicated on a large scale. We have teamed up with My Little Pony to combine advanced autonomous driving technology with Uber's hybrid mobility network, localization experience and operational capabilities to create a cooperative model that can expand rapidly and steadily in different cities.”

Driven by the co-building fleet model, Europe is facing an inflection point of scale

The deployment plan of 2,000 vehicles in 5 cities marks that European autonomous driving will enter a new stage of development at the level of 1,000 vehicles. The size of the 1,000-vehicle fleet is a key watershed in the commercialization of Robotaxi — practice in multiple markets in China and the US has proven that only by reaching this scale can efficient regional coverage and capacity scheduling be achieved, so that the bicycle economy model can actually work.

This is also a landmark breakthrough overseas in the “Build a Fleet Together” cooperation model by My Little Pony Zhixing. The model promotes the company's global growth strategy by introducing mobility services and fleet operation partners to export vehicles and commercial capabilities to the world in a win-win manner.

The “Joint Fleet Building” model integrates the three core capabilities required for Robotaxi's large-scale operation: autonomous driving technology, user access to travel platforms, and daily fleet operation. Under this framework, the technical side, the platform party and the operator collaborate efficiently. All parties can assume multiple roles according to market conditions, and vehicle capital investment and asset ownership are more flexible.

In this partnership, My Little Pony provides L4 virtual drivers and large-scale verified user experience and operating experience, while Uber provides a global travel platform for user access, ride-hailing, payment, customer service, and mixed mobility networks. The day-to-day management of the fleet will be carried out by a local partner selected by both parties. In May of this year, My Little Pony Zhixing and Uber collaborated with local Croatian company Verne to launch Europe's first commercial Robotaxi service in Zagreb, verifying the viability of this model in the European market.

Leading products and commercial capabilities, China's AI expands globally

The support point for the rapid global expansion of Little Pony Zhixing is its leading edge in technical capabilities, cost control, safety records, and user experience. The seventh-generation Robotaxi has vehicle-level mass production and large-scale deployment capabilities, and has achieved bicycle profits in domestic markets such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It has verified the sustainability of the Robotaxi business model and has become a benchmark model for Little Pony Zhixing's global growth strategy.

With its outstanding product and commercial capabilities, My Little Pony continues to win large-scale overseas deployment orders from leading global partners. With the large-scale implementation of Robotaxi in high-passenger unit price markets such as Europe, the “Co-Build Fleet” cooperation model will unleash considerable commercial returns and bring sustainable revenue streams such as technical licensing and passenger fare sharing to Little Pony Zhixing.

Peng Jun previously stated at the APEC High-Level Forum on Artificial Intelligence that the vehicle cost of My Little Pony Zhixing is about 1/4 to 1/5 of Waymo's. This advantage stems from the company's comprehensive capabilities in technology research and development, supply chain, and engineering. He believes that if Chinese AI companies work closely with local partners, their technology and products will benefit more countries.

European cities are dense, vehicle costs are high, and the shared travel market is a mature market. It is an important incremental market in the global commercialization of autonomous driving. This cooperation focuses on the European market and has become the key to the implementation of Pony Smart's “China+Overseas” dual-engine strategy. At present, My Little Pony has obtained autonomous driving tests or operating licenses in the Middle East, Singapore, South Korea, Luxembourg, Croatia, etc., and has specified an expansion target of more than 20 cities and a fleet exceeding 3,500 vehicles in 2026.