Singapore lets you hail a Pony.ai robotaxi like a regular cab

© blog.pony.ai

Pony.ai and ComfortDelGro have taken a meaningful step for robotaxis in Singapore: autonomous rides can now be booked through the ordinary Zig app. This is no longer a closed demonstration for a limited group of participants — it is consumer access in the Punggol district.

From 22 June, residents and visitors in northern Punggol can choose an autonomous ride in the ComfortDelGro Zig app. Once the booking is confirmed, the passenger steps into a Zig-branded car, while the driverless technology itself comes from Pony.ai. The route links residential neighbourhoods with Punggol Coast Mall, Punggol Coast MRT station, One Punggol, Oasis Terrace and Punggol Plaza.

The choice of district is no accident. Punggol is convenient for testing what the industry calls the first and last mile: short trips between home, the metro, the mall and local amenities. For a robotaxi this is a more realistic task than a smooth run on an empty road. The car has to operate where there are pedestrians, bus stops, intersections, mall driveways and ordinary urban bustle.

ComfortDelGro is not playing the role of a showcase partner here, but of an operator with proper infrastructure. The company already has an app, a customer base, taxi experience and a working relationship with regulators. For Pony.ai such an alliance matters no less than the technology itself: an autonomous car has to be embedded in a familiar service, otherwise the passenger does not care how advanced the lidar on board really is.

For the robotaxi market this is another signal: the race is gradually shifting from press releases to local commercial routes. Chinese and American companies are scaling up their fleets, Europe is working through approval procedures, and Singapore is testing a careful scenario — a small district, a clear route, a mass-market operator app and gradual expansion.

Pony.ai says it wants to have more than 3,500 robotaxis and operate in more than 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026. This is already a scale at which autonomous driving stops being a one-off experiment and turns into an operational business: the cars have to be serviced, insured, updated, monitored and filled with real trips.

Pony.ai is not promising to replace taxis overnight. It is doing something more important: teaching the passenger to call a driverless car as calmly as a regular one.