Bolt partners with China's Pony.ai as robotaxi push accelerates in Europe

The Estonian ride-hailing platform Bolt is partnering with the Chinese self-driving company Pony.ai to bring autonomous vehicles to Europe.

The partnership, announced on Tuesday, will integrate Pony.ai's Level 4 autonomous driving technology—capable of operating without human intervention in specific conditions—into Bolt's network.

The move comes as other Chinese self-driving technology companies are ramping up their presence in Europe as they face restrictions in the US market.

"Autonomous vehicles will transform how people and goods move around, and Bolt is proud to partner with Pony.ai as the company scales its autonomous driving technology," said Markus Villig, Bolt's founder and CEO.

The partnership will initially prioritise real-world testing, safety validation, and user experience design before launching fully autonomous, driverless services, Bolt said.

The company did not announce when the cars will hit the road, but that the initial deployments will target cities in both EU member states and other European countries.

James Peng, Pony.ai's founder and CEO, described Europe as "a fast-growing and highly promising market for autonomous mobility".

The company currently operates the only fully driverless robotaxi services across Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, and has a fleet of 720 robotaxis and some 200 autonomous trucks.

The road ahead

Despite Europe having some of the world’s most stringent data protection rules and safety standards, Chinese mobility companies are driving towards the continent.

Last month, Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle start-up Momenta announced they would start testing robotaxis in Germany next year.

Lyft also announced a deal with China’s Baidu to deploy robotaxis across Europe next year, beginning with Germany and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, companies such as Waymo, Cruise, and various other European start-ups are racing to commercialise self-driving technology, which proponents say could reduce traffic accidents.