inDrive, Pony.ai, Nvidia to test robotaxis in Kazakhstan in 2027

The memorandum of understanding between inDrive, Pony.ai and Nvidia reflects growing interest in self-driving technology beyond the U.S. and China. It also comes as ride-hailing companies expand their push into robotaxis: earlier this month, Uber announced plans to test Pony.ai's robotaxis in London, where it has also started offering supervised autonomous rides with British startup Wayve. For Pony.ai, the Kazakhstan proposal would add to its ongoing push beyond China; the company aims to have more than 3,500 robotaxis operating in over 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026, up from a fleet of 1,975 vehicles at the end of June. Kazakhstan itself announced plans last month to launch autonomous taxi services in 2027, with initial trials planned in Astana and two other cities, and has introduced rules for autonomous vehicles to be tested on certain public roads. inDrive is exploring robotaxis in other markets as well: in December, it signed a separate agreement with Saudi Arabia's AI Driver to explore deploying autonomous vehicles powered by Chinese self-driving firm WeRide, starting with Riyadh, with a pilot targeted for the first half of 2026, though it remains unclear whether testing has begun.