Pony.ai and Verne driverless robotaxi tests in Zagreb: route and Level 4 operation

© Verne

The human has been removed from the robotaxi in Zagreb: Pony.ai and Verne have begun test rides with invited passengers and no driver or operator inside. The vehicle handles all driving tasks itself on a 22 km route linking Verne’s headquarters, one of Zagreb’s main business districts and Zagreb Airport. The companies describe it as Europe’s first test of a fully driverless robotaxi carrying passengers on public roads.

That distinction matters amid reports of a “service launch”. Fully driverless rides are not yet a regular Uber service open to anyone: the September 10 announcement refers specifically to tests with invited passengers. The commercial project began in April with an operator onboard, and autonomous rides also appeared in the Uber app on August 19 — at that stage, a licensed operator was still behind the wheel supervising the system.

Over five months, Verne vehicles have covered more than 200,000 autonomous kilometres and completed several thousand passenger rides. In Zagreb, Pony.ai uses its Gen-7 Level 4 system on the Arcfox Alpha T5 electric crossover: the architecture combines 360-degree sensor coverage, redundancy for critical functions and the ability to keep operating safely if individual components fail. Verne monitors the vehicles from a remote operations centre but stresses that staff do not drive them remotely.

The next barrier is scale. Fully driverless testing is still limited to the 22 km route, although the companies say they plan to expand it across Verne’s entire operating area in Zagreb over the coming months. At the same time, Pony.ai and Uber plan to deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis across five European cities — Zagreb and four others.