What happened
Pony.ai and Dubai's RTA signed a strategic partnership (May 2025); Pony secured a Dubai testing permit (Sep 2025) and began driverless robotaxi trials (Apr 2026), targeting commercial service in 2026.
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Announced-concreteAutonomous Driving / Smart MobilityGovernment / Project-based Cooperation2025AE-05
Pony.ai · United Arab Emirates
Middle East·Group: Pony.ai
How to read these numbers: A purposive, publicly sourced case library, not a probability sample: counts describe the library, not market share. Monetary figures mix investment, revenue and user metrics — treat them as magnitude markers and defer to the verbatim description and source link.
Structured fields
- Host country
- United Arab Emirates
- Region
- Middle East
- AI segment
- Autonomous Driving / Smart Mobility
- Entry mode
- Government / Project-based Cooperation
- Entry year
- 2025
- Deployment status
- Announced-concrete
- Capital direction
- China->host (outbound deployment)
- Company group
- Pony.ai
Local partner
Dubai Roads and Transport Authority
GovernmentState-linked partner
Scale
Driverless trials from Apr 2026; commercial targeted 2026
Sources & notes
Record note: Merged record: Dubai RTA partnership (May 2025) + testing permit (Sep 2025) + driverless trials (Apr 2026).
Compiled from public reporting and company disclosures. Not legal or investment advice — cite the source link alongside any quotation.
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NIO
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TRUNK Technology
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XPeng
United Arab Emirates·Middle East
InvestmentAE-14
Autonomous Driving / Smart MobilityM&A / Investment2020
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WeRide
United Arab Emirates·Middle East
Announced-concreteAE-06
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WeRide runs commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi with Uber and Tawasul Transport under an ITC permit; commercial service began Dec 2024 and reached L4 fully driverless operation on Yas Island in Nov 2025, expanding to downtown Abu Dhabi in Feb 2026 with a safety operator still on board in the downtown zone. WeRide states a fleet of 200+ robotaxis and a target of ≥1,200 across the Middle East by 2027 (company figures). Also live in Dubai.