Tag: Uber

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Europe’s First Driverless Robotaxi Rides Begin in Zagreb

Zagreb just became the first city in Europe where you can climb into a robotaxi with nobody behind the wheel. Not a demo on a closed track. Not a safety driver hovering over the controls. Real passengers, public roads, an empty driver’s seat.

Pony.ai and Verne began the trials on September 10, 2026, running invited passengers along a 22-kilometer route that links Verne’s headquarters and one of Zagreb’s main business districts with Franjo Tuđman Airport. Remote operators keep watch from a control center, but nobody drives. Nobody rides up front to grab the wheel. For a continent that has talked about driverless cars for a decade, the symbolism is hard to miss.

From supervised to truly driverless in five months

The speed of the move is the story. Verne launched Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service back in early April 2026, with an onboard AV operator riding along in every car. Rides became bookable through Uber in Zagreb on August 19, running on Pony.ai’s autonomy stack in ArcFox T5 Alpha electric cars.

Since April, the fleet has logged more than 200,000 kilometers and carried several thousand paying customers, who gave the service an average rating of 4.7 out of 5. That’s the groundwork. You don’t pull the safety operator out of the car after 200,000 uneventful kilometers unless the data says you can.

Verne CEO Marko Pejković put it plainly: “Five months ago, we launched Europe’s first commercial Robotaxi service. We are now taking the next step, moving from autonomous driving with an onboard AV operator toward fully driverless operations.”

Right now the driverless rides are free and limited to invited passengers, and they can’t be booked through the app yet. The routes will widen over the coming months until they cover the whole Zagreb operating area. Think of September as the proof-of-concept phase and the next few months as the rollout.

The machine doing the driving

The trial vehicles are Pony.ai’s seventh-generation Level 4 robotaxis. The stack runs on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX hardware with a safety-certified DriveOS, 360-degree sensor coverage, and the kind of redundancy layers that autonomous driving has always promised: backup systems for the backup systems, fail-operational design so a single fault doesn’t strand the car.

Pony.ai founder and CEO Dr. James Peng said the milestone marks an important step in the company’s international growth, combining Pony.ai’s Virtual Driver with Verne’s local operations. It’s worth remembering that Pony.ai has been running robotaxis in Chinese cities for years. This is the company exporting its most mature product to European roads — and European roads, with their tram tracks, medieval street grids, and weather, are a stricter test than the grids of Guangzhou.

Verne, meanwhile, is backed by Rimac — yes, that Rimac — and has built more than 60 prototypes of its own bespoke two-seater robotaxi. The Pony.ai partnership is the commercial engine; the Verne vehicle is the longer-term play. Having both in the pipeline is a luxury most robotaxi companies can’t afford.

Why the airport route matters

Start where the demand is real. A 22-kilometer run from the business district to Franjo Tuđman Airport is the kind of trip travelers make every day — predictable, high-value, and painfully sensitive to reliability. Miss a flight because a robotaxi hesitated at a roundabout and the experiment is over.

Picking the airport first says Verne is confident the service works where it counts. It also gives the company a controlled corridor to perfect before it spreads across the city. Every rider becomes a data point; every smooth airport transfer becomes a story people tell their friends.

For travelers, the practical meaning is simple. Within a year or two, landing in Zagreb could mean stepping into a car with no driver and a flat fare, no language barrier, no tip arithmetic. Airport transfers are the beachhead. The beach expands from there.

Uber is circling — and Dara Khosrowshahi just rode in one

Five days before the September 10 milestone, Uber and Pony.ai widened their partnership to more than 2,000 robotaxis across five European cities — with Zagreb the only city named so far. Then Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi showed up at the Rimac campus this week, rode in the back of a driverless Pony.ai robotaxi alongside Marko Pejković, and made it known that Uber intends to invest in Verne once certain milestones are met.

That’s about as clear a signal as corporate partnerships give. Uber already lists Zagreb robotaxi rides in its app. A strategic investment on top of that turns a vendor relationship into something closer to a joint venture for the European market.

The sequencing matters for investors too. Pony.ai targets more than 3,500 robotaxis globally by the end of 2026, with a deployment pipeline of over 4,000 vehicles. The company isn’t treating Europe as a side project; it’s treating it as the next growth market. And with Switzerland already carrying passengers and Madrid mapped out for Spain’s first service, the European robotaxi map is filling in faster than most people expected. Momenta’s plans for Dubai and Europe suggest the competitive field is only getting busier.

What this means for cities and investors

For cities, Zagreb is now the case study. Every mayor in Europe who has wondered whether robotaxis could work on their streets will be watching this fleet — the incident record, the public acceptance, the traffic data. The 4.7-star rating from several thousand rides is the number that will get quoted in council meetings.

For investors, the milestones-to-investment structure of the Uber deal is the thing to watch. Uber isn’t buying in on faith; it’s buying in once Verne hits its marks. That tells you where the smart money thinks the risk sits — and how fast it thinks that risk shrinks.

And for the rest of us? A date to remember: September 10, 2026. The day the driver’s seat in Europe went empty for good.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Madrid Mapped for Spain’s First Robotaxi Service

If you’ve spotted a black van bristling with sensors crawling through northern Madrid lately, you haven’t imagined it. Twenty of them are out mapping about 25 square kilometers of the Spanish capital’s streets — and they’re laying the groundwork for Spain’s first robotaxi service.

The vans are WeRide GXR vehicles, operated by Uber, WeRide, and Avomo — the autonomous-vehicle arm of fleet operator Moove Cars Group. They’re working the neighborhoods of Alcobendas and Hortaleza in the city’s north, recording road signs, traffic flow, and driving habits. The goal: high-precision maps accurate enough for driverless cars to navigate them.

Mapping is the unglamorous phase of every robotaxi launch. Nobody writes headlines about lidar point clouds. But nothing rolls without them. The fact that twenty vans are out there now tells you everything about where this project sits on the timeline.

Spain wrote the rulebook first

Here’s what makes this more than a mapping exercise. On September 10, 2026, Spain’s Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) issued the country’s first national permit for Level 4 autonomous passenger vehicles under the ES-AV framework. It was also the first EU-wide approval of WeRide’s GXR platform.

That permit window runs through September 2028 — a generous two-year runway. And the partners’ target is ambitious: commercial robotaxi service on the Uber app before the end of 2026, with the first rides in the same northern neighborhoods the vans are mapping now.

For now, each mapping van still carries a trained in-car specialist. Full driverless operation awaits further approvals. That’s the standard sequence: map, test with a human aboard, then — only then — remove the human. Madrid is following it by the book.

Why Madrid, why now

Spain has been quietly positioning itself as Europe’s autonomy-friendly jurisdiction. The ES-AV framework gives companies a national-level permit path instead of the patchwork of local approvals that slow things down elsewhere. For a continent that has watched American and Chinese robotaxis from the sidelines, a clear regulatory lane is a competitive advantage.

The Uber connection matters commercially. Uber’s $1.25B robotaxi bet with Rivian targets American cities in 2028, but the Madrid project could put Uber’s first robotaxi rides on European roads years earlier. And WeRide is becoming the common thread in Europe’s autonomy story: its technology powers Switzerland’s first public robotaxi, which just started carrying passengers near Zurich. Different markets, same platform.

For travelers, the practical upside is straightforward. Madrid’s northern business districts and residential zones get a new mobility option integrated into the app millions already use. No new download, no new account — just a robotaxi option where a regular Uber would be.

Avomo and the fleet question

One name in this story deserves more attention: Avomo. As the autonomous-vehicle arm of Moove Cars Group, Avomo is the fleet operator — the company that will actually own, maintain, charge, and clean the vehicles. That’s the least glamorous job in the robotaxi stack and arguably the most important one.

The division of labor here is the emerging template for robotaxi launches. WeRide supplies the autonomy. Uber supplies the demand — millions of riders who already have the app. Avomo supplies the metal and the maintenance bays. Nobody has to be good at everything. Each partner does the thing it already knows how to do, which is how you get from a mapping fleet to a commercial service in months rather than years.

Fleet operations are also where robotaxi economics get decided. Vehicle utilization, charging costs, cleaning turnaround, minor repairs — the unsexy line items determine whether a fare in Madrid undercuts human drivers the way Iamo undercuts Zurich cabs. Avomo’s bet is that running driverless fleets is a business in itself, not just a support function. If Madrid works, expect fleet operators to become the most sought-after partners in every new market.

What happens between mapping and launch

The unglamorous work continues. The vans are building maps now. Next comes supervised testing with the in-car specialists, then regulatory sign-off for driverless operation, then the first commercial rides. Each step has its own paperwork, and Spanish regulators will be watching closely — this is the first national Level 4 passenger permit, which makes Madrid the test case everyone in Brussels will cite.

Cities should watch too. Alcobendas and Hortaleza are getting mapped because they’re the launch zone, but the permit is national. If the model works in northern Madrid, there’s nothing structurally stopping it from spreading to Barcelona, Valencia, or Seville.

The bigger picture

Two European robotaxi stories broke within days of each other: a live public service in a Swiss valley and a mapping fleet in Madrid’s north. Momenta’s European expansion plans add a third data point. Europe’s robotaxi map is filling in fast — and it’s being drawn first in sensor data, one black van at a time.

Keep an eye on those vans. In a few months, some of them won’t have drivers.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Uber’s $1.25B Rivian Robotaxi Bet Advances

The biggest bet in the robotaxi business just moved a step closer to paying out.

Uber agreed back in March to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031 and to buy 10,000 autonomous versions of Rivian’s R2 SUV, with an option for 40,000 more starting in 2030. This week, Rivian executives signaled the partnership is hitting its next milestone: the company expects to unlock the second investment trigger, a $250 million tranche, in the fourth quarter of this year. An initial $300 million was committed when the deal was signed. The rest arrives only if Rivian clears predetermined autonomy goals.

That structure tells you everything about how seriously both sides take this. Uber isn’t writing a blank check. It’s paying for proven capability, milestone by milestone. And Rivian, which has burned cash for years chasing a spot among elite EV makers, now has a direct financial incentive to make its self-driving stack work. The robotaxi deal could be worth more to Rivian’s future than every consumer truck it sells.

## 50,000 vehicles, one app

The scale of the plan is what sets it apart. Ten thousand fully autonomous R2 SUVs in the first phase, with the option to scale to 50,000. Every one of them would operate exclusively inside the Uber app. No competing ride-hail platform gets a crack at Rivian’s Level 4 hardware.

The rollout map is ambitious. Initial commercial runs are slated for San Francisco and Miami in 2028, expanding to as many as 25 cities across the U.S., Canada, and Europe by 2031. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has pointed to Rivian’s vertical integration as the reason for the bet: the vehicle, the compute platform, and the software stack designed together, with manufacturing and supply kept in the United States. Data from Rivian’s growing consumer fleet and its experience running commercial operations gave Uber the confidence to commit.

Under the hood, Rivian’s third-generation autonomy platform pairs two in-house RAP1 chips delivering 1,600 TOPS with 11 cameras, 5 radars, and LiDAR. The company consolidated its R1 and R2 lines onto a unified RivianOS 2 architecture this month, which should make fleet-wide updates far simpler. First LiDAR-equipped R2s reach customers in 2027, and executives say the robotaxi version will likely arrive before personal Level 4 driving, relatively close in time.

## Software is becoming the business

Here’s the part investors are waking up to. Rivian’s software and services revenue hit $515 million in the most recent quarter at a 42 percent gross margin, a meaningful chunk of the company’s $179 million in total gross profit. The consumer business is still grinding: Q2 brought 12,194 deliveries and $1.66 billion in revenue, but the automotive operation posted a $36 million gross loss and the company burned $849 million in free cash flow.

Robotaxis flip that script. Instead of selling a truck once, Rivian would earn from miles driven and software fees, at the scale of a platform that completed 3.9 billion trips in a single quarter. Rivian is already selling its Autonomy+ driver-assistance software for $49.99 a month or $2,500 upfront. A fleet of 10,000 vehicles running inside Uber’s network takes that logic to its endpoint.

The R2 itself helps. Customer deliveries began June 9 at a $57,990 starting price, with a $44,990 Standard variant due in 2027. The midsize SUV form factor is exactly what Uber wanted for high-volume robotaxi duty: roomy enough for passengers and luggage, cheap enough to build by the tens of thousands.

## The field is getting crowded

Uber isn’t betting on a single horse. The company has robotaxi arrangements in motion with Nvidia, Lucid, Stellantis, and Amazon’s Zoox, alongside its Nuro delivery partnership. The Stellantis deal, signed in June with Wayve, targets Level 4 robotaxis for Europe and North America. What sets the Rivian pact apart is scale and structure: up to 50,000 vehicles, more than a billion dollars in milestone-tied equity, and exclusivity inside the Uber app. Most partnerships in this space are pilot programs with press releases attached. This one reads like a supply contract for the future.

## What it means

For travelers, the timeline is concrete now. San Francisco and Miami in 2028, then a rapid multi-city expansion. Uber’s network means these robotaxis won’t need to build rider demand from scratch; the demand is already in the app. The question is purely whether Rivian’s autonomy stack clears its milestones on schedule.

For cities, the 25-city target spanning three continents signals that robotaxi competition is about to get serious. Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, and now the Uber-Rivian fleet will be bidding for the same streets, the same curb space, and the same regulators. Cities that set clear rules early will get the investment first.

For investors, the milestone structure is the thing to watch. Each unlocked tranche is a public signal that Rivian’s autonomy is performing. The second trigger, expected this quarter, would be the first real proof that the $1.25 billion bet is on track. Rivian hasn’t demonstrated Level 4 commercially yet, and the extra 40,000 vehicles aren’t guaranteed. But 50,000 robotaxis and a billion dollars is not a pilot program. It’s a pledge, and this quarter we’ll find out if it’s holding.

For more on the robotaxi race, see our [Breaking News coverage](https://newstodayworld.org/category/breaking-news/), including [Momenta’s plans for thousands of robotaxis in Dubai and Europe](https://newstodayworld.org/breaking-news/2026/09/30/momenta-plans-thousands-of-robotaxis-for-dubai-europe/) and [Waymo’s robotaxi fleet surging in Texas](https://newstodayworld.org/breaking-news/2026/09/29/waymos-texas-fleet-jumped-49-in-three-weeks/).

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: EXMA Bites: Lessons in Purpose, Pop Culture, and Perseverance!

Every Friday, EXMA — the powerhouse organization shaping Latin America’s business and innovation landscape — delivers its signature pulse of insight through Los Bites de la Semana, a compact yet potent briefing that distills the week’s most resonant stories for a global community of “doers.” Each edition is a blend of cultural relevance, creative strategy, and entrepreneurial drive, designed to recharge minds before the weekend.

This week’s EXMA Bites edition unfolds around a single theme: connection. From Uber’s feline pop experiment to Bill Gates’ reflections on the irreplaceable power of empathy, and the story of how one entrepreneur turned failure into a fitness empire, every story illuminates how purpose fuels success in an age obsessed with scale.

The newsletter opens with its signature rallying cry — “DOER, ¿listo pa’ cerrar la semana con todo?” — setting a tone of optimism and movement. The EXMA audience is not composed of passive readers but of leaders, innovators, and creative minds who translate ideas into results.

Uber and the Pop Culture of Kindness

The first story takes readers into Uber’s newest campaign — a blend of branding, emotion, and unexpected compassion. Inspired by the global aesthetic and cultural magnetism of Taylor Swift, the company launched an experience that turned cat adoption into pop culture. By merging music, storytelling, and emotional design, Uber managed to make a social cause — pet adoption — resonate at a cultural level.

The message was clear: emotional branding can be as powerful as it is noble. Rather than separating marketing from purpose, Uber demonstrated how empathy and social impact can coexist with modern entertainment. For EXMA’s readers, the lesson is tactical: leverage pop trends not as imitation but as a bridge to meaning. When inspiration comes from outside your immediate industry, creativity gains its greatest fuel.

Bill Gates on the Work AI Can’t Replace

In the second bite, the focus shifts from innovation in business to the essence of humanity in the workplace. Bill Gates, reflecting on artificial intelligence, identified three professions that technology will never fully replicate: teachers, nurses, and leaders.

His reasoning is precise and profoundly human. Teachers embody empathy and the ability to shape understanding through care. Nurses, through touch and attention, bring emotional intelligence into spaces where algorithms cannot reach. And leaders, at their best, inspire through vision and authenticity rather than data.

For the EXMA community, this insight is not about fear of automation but about the strategic value of humanity. In a world where systems grow smarter, the competitive edge lies in empathy, intuition, and the power to inspire — qualities that cannot be programmed. The takeaway is both philosophical and practical: identify what in your work depends on genuine human connection, and strengthen it relentlessly.

Julián Torres and Fitpal: From Collapse to Community

The third story embodies the EXMA ethos in its purest form — resilience. Entrepreneur Julián Torres, founder of Fitpal, faced a series of failed ventures before finding his breakthrough. He tried tourism, restaurants, and other projects that left him nearly penniless. Yet in those setbacks, he found the training ground for persistence.

With little more than determination and a prototype, he launched Fitpal — an app that allows users to access multiple gyms with a single membership. What began as a minimal, imperfect experiment has evolved into a regional success with investors, recognition, and thousands of subscribers across Latin America.

EXMA highlights this as a living lesson in entrepreneurship: the fear of imperfection is the enemy of progress. The only way to refine an idea is to release it into the world, however rough the first version may be. Failure, in this light, is not a verdict but a workout — the gym where success builds its strength.

A Thread of Purpose Through Every Story

As this week’s Bites concludes, EXMA draws the stories together under one unifying reflection: the best ideas are born from the heart.

Uber turned compassion into cultural momentum. Gates reminded the world that empathy is still humanity’s greatest advantage. And Julián Torres showed that endurance transforms defeat into wisdom.

Each narrative becomes a mirror for the “doer” mentality EXMA celebrates — purpose-driven, emotionally intelligent, and unafraid to act. Behind the playful tone and conversational emojis lies a sophisticated principle: in modern business, authenticity and emotional resonance drive growth more powerfully than any algorithm.

The newsletter’s sign-off — “Nos leemos la próxima semana con más bitesssss” — carries the casual warmth of a mentor speaking to peers. It’s a ritual reminder that innovation is continuous, and every week brings another opportunity to align purpose with performance.

The EXMA Pulse

Founded as a movement rather than merely a platform, EXMA has become one of Latin America’s most influential ecosystems for business transformation. Its philosophy, embodied in messages like these, merges marketing, innovation, leadership, and personal mastery into a single framework. EXMA’s language is vibrant, inclusive, and motivational — addressing professionals as “doers” who shape the future rather than simply respond to it.

Through events, masterclasses, and digital engagement, EXMA has cultivated a community that spans entrepreneurs, executives, and creative thinkers across multiple continents. EXMA Bites functions as its cultural shorthand — a brief but potent reminder that the next big leap often begins with a single small action.

The Lesson of the Week

To close, EXMA’s trio of stories leaves an enduring imprint on both business and mindset. Compassion can be commercial. Humanity can be strategic. And failure, far from final, can be the most fertile soil for innovation.

When Uber, Gates, and Torres converge in the same message, the conclusion is unmistakable: success belongs to those who connect with emotion, lead with empathy, and dare to begin before they are ready.