Uber and Pony.ai plan to deploy over 2,000 robotaxis in Europe and the Middle East. The $10 billion commitment expands Uber's autonomous network. A rollout timeline has not been set.
On August 14, Uber said it would deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis across Europe under an expanded partnership with Pony.ai that started in May 2025. The rollout extends from an existing commercial service in Zagreb, Croatia to four additional European cities. Plans also include the Middle East.
Uber's driver network is its biggest expense. In the second quarter, the platform processed $58 billion in gross bookings. $25 billion of that went to its 10.2 million drivers, the single largest cost on the books. Every autonomous mile that removes a driver from that equation pushes more of each ride toward Uber's margins, without Uber needing to build or own a self-driving car.
That is the logic behind the model CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been building: let partners like Pony.ai handle the hardware and software, while Uber supplies the 208 million monthly active customers already on its app. Autonomous vehicles run in seven cities today. Khosrowshahi has signaled that could double to 15 by the end of 2026, backed by roughly $10 billion Uber plans to commit to its partners over the next few years.
The core business is moving too. Uber added more first-time users over the past year than in any twelve months of the last five. Monthly active platform consumers grew 16% year-over-year, and trips rose 18%. Delivery, now more than a third of total sales, grew revenue 28% year-over-year while transportation grew just 1%. Non-GAAP net income climbed 29% to $1.6 billion, an 11.6% margin. The stock's roughly 8% year-to-date slide has left its price-to-sales ratio at 2.8, well under its 4.1 average since going public in 2019.
Friday's announcement left notable gaps. Pony.ai gave no timeline for when the 2,000-plus robotaxis would actually hit European roads. The four cities beyond Zagreb went unnamed, as did any specifics on the Middle East plans. The vague rollout details give reason for caution.
Uber's approach also means leaning on outside technology rather than owning it. The roughly $10 billion earmarked for partners assumes those partnerships keep delivering rides at scale and on schedule. The field is competitive. Alphabet's Waymo alone completes more than 500,000 paid autonomous trips across 11 US cities every week, a scale Uber's partner network has yet to match anywhere.
Hedge fund ownership of Uber slipped from 153 funds to 147 last quarter. Ownership of Pony.ai climbed from 23 to 31. Short interest on Uber is 2.41% of float, compared with 6.57% for Pony.ai. Uber trades at 22.68 times forward earnings, a multiple that already assumes its delivery and autonomous bets keep paying off.
Uber's expanding robotaxi footprint offers a cheaper path to growth than adding more human-driven rides ever could. The underlying business, from delivery growth to rising margins, is already moving in that direction. Still, the Pony.ai deal remains a plan more than a proof point, with no rollout date and unnamed cities standing between Friday's announcement and any real revenue.
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