Uber associates with China Pony AI to deploy autonomous taxis on the key market in the Middle East

(Reuters) -UBER said on Tuesday that it is associated with Pony AI to deploy Robotaxi developer vehicles based in China on its carpooling platform, marking the last of a series of links aimed at strengthening its presence in the Robotaxis sector.

The partnership will be launched on a key market in the Middle East later this year and will take place on more international markets in the future.

During the initial pilot phase, Pony AI vehicles will include a safety operator on board before moving on to a fully independent commercial launch.

Uber has signed several new partnerships and expanded existing collaborations in recent weeks, aimed at better to compete with Lyft and the Tesla electric vehicle manufacturer on the Robotaximal market.

The company has announced agreements with autonomous technology companies May Mobility and Modulea last week and recently expanded its partnership with Weride de China to enter 15 additional cities worldwide. Last year, the company also extended its link with alphabet alphabet.

Pony AI’s shares, listed in the United States, which made their debut on the NASDAQ in November, jumped almost 13% in the market prior to the market, while Uber shares have dropped 1%.

Despite engineering and regulatory obstacles, technological companies and EV have run to develop autonomous systems and a large -scale commercial deployment of Robotaxie.

The American federal government also facilitates the deployment of autonomous vehicles by expanding the exemptions from specific security requirements while retaining compulsory incident reports.

Founded in 2016 and supported by Toyota, Pony IA, based in Guangzhou, explored the expansion in South Korea, Luxembourg, the Middle East and other countries. He currently has Robotaxi service licenses in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and seeks to launch services in Hong Kong.

(Report by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; edition by Tasim Zahid)