Zagreb has become the first European city where passengers can access an autonomous vehicle through the Uber app. From 19 August, riders in selected parts of the Croatian capital, including the city centre, can be matched with a Pony.ai-powered vehicle operated by Verne.

It sounds like a fully driverless breakthrough. It is not—at least, not yet. A licensed operator will sit behind the wheel and monitor each journey during the initial phase. Coverage and availability will expand gradually. The milestone is therefore less about removing the driver overnight and more about turning autonomous technology into a service passengers can book inside an app they already use.

A three-part model

Pony.ai supplies its Gen-7 autonomous-driving system. Verne owns and operates the fleet and manages local deployment. Uber contributes demand, booking, payment and the customer interface.

Riders request UberX or Comfort as usual. If an autonomous vehicle is available, the app displays vehicle information and instructions for the ride. That detail matters: adoption may depend as much on removing unfamiliar steps as on improving the technology.

“Today marks a major milestone for autonomous mobility in Europe,” said Annie Duvnjak, Global Head of Autonomous Mobility Operations at Uber.

“By bringing together Pony.ai’s proven autonomous-driving technology, Verne’s operational expertise and Uber’s global platform, we’re making it simple for riders to access autonomous rides through the Uber app. Zagreb is an important first step as we work to bring AVs to millions of riders and build the world’s largest platform for AV deployment.”

The Uber integration follows Verne’s commercial launch in Zagreb in April. Pony.ai said that service initially operated daily across roughly 90 square kilometres, including Zagreb Airport, with bookings handled through the Verne app. The new step gives the fleet access to Uber’s larger marketplace rather than creating the service from scratch.

Zagreb becomes the test case

“Verne launched Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb in April. Since then, we have completed thousands of autonomous rides, operating every day and learning from real customers in a real European city. From today, Verne rides are also available through Uber, giving customers another way to access the service. This marks another European first — the first time autonomous rides are available through Uber in Europe,”

said Marko Pejkovic, CEO of Verne. “This is an important milestone not only for Verne, but also for Croatia. A service pioneered here in Zagreb is now available through the world’s largest mobility platform. The experience we are gaining every day in Zagreb will help us bring Verne to other European cities.”

READ MORE: Uber App Explained: How It Became Mobility Infrastructure

Zagreb is large enough to present narrow streets, mixed road layouts and airport journeys, but more manageable than London, Paris or Berlin. Success would give the partners an operational template—not simply a demonstration—to take elsewhere.

“Bringing Zagreb’s Robotaxi service onto the Uber platform is an important next step in making autonomous mobility more accessible to riders,” said Dr. James Peng, Founder and CEO of Pony.ai.

“This milestone is also a strong example of the joint deployment model in action, bringing together Pony.ai’s Gen-7 Robotaxi technology, Verne’s local operating capabilities and Uber’s platform and rider reach to create a viable path for scaling autonomous mobility. We look forward to expanding the service in Zagreb and progressing toward fully driverless operations.”

This early service will not suit every trip. Passengers needing guaranteed availability, citywide coverage or a familiar driver may prefer a conventional UberX, Comfort or local taxi. The announcement leaves practical questions unanswered, including fleet size, waiting times, pricing differences, accessibility and the timetable for removing the operator. Publishing those details—and later, credible safety and reliability data—would make the proposition easier to judge.

Europe’s platform race

Uber is positioning itself as the marketplace connecting riders with AV developers and local fleet operators, rather than relying on one proprietary autonomous system. Pony.ai and Uber have announced plans for more than 2,000 robotaxis across Europe, targeting four additional cities beyond Zagreb.

Competition is forming around the same logic. Lyft and Baidu plan to introduce Apollo Go vehicles in Germany and the UK, subject to regulatory approval, and scale to thousands across Europe. The difference is that Zagreb has moved from announcement to paid service and now to integration with a major ride-hailing platform.

READ MORE: Pony.ai and Dubai RTA Accelerate Autonomous Transport Vision with Robotaxi Launch

Uber says autonomous vehicles and human drivers will coexist for the foreseeable future. That is commercially viable: AVs may work well within mapped zones, while human drivers continue to cover irregular routes, lower-density areas, and situations the technology cannot yet handle efficiently.

Conclusion

Zagreb matters because it tests whether autonomous technology, fleet operations and passenger distribution can behave like one dependable transport service. That partnership structure increasingly looks like Europe’s preferred route to robotaxi scale.

But the decisive milestone will not be the first Uber booking. It will be consistent availability, transparent performance and a safe transition from supervised rides to vehicles with nobody behind the wheel. Until then, Zagreb is Europe’s most interesting live experiment in autonomous ride-hailing—not proof that the driverless city has arrived.