Autonomous taxis from inDrive, Pony.ai, and NVIDIA will appear in Astana

inDrive, Pony.ai, and NVIDIA have signed a memorandum on launching driverless taxis in Kazakhstan. The first city will be Astana: robotaxis can be ordered through the inDrive app. inDrive plans to launch the pilot project in 2027. The companies announced the partnership on the day of NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang's visit to Kazakhstan.

The roles are distributed as follows. Pony.ai will provide seventh-generation robotaxis, inDrive is responsible for the platform and service operations, and NVIDIA will provide AI infrastructure. The vehicles are based on the NVIDIA Hyperion platform for level 4 autonomous vehicles, meaning they are capable of driving without a driver.

Kazakhstan became the first market for the project because it was one of the first to create a legislative framework for autonomous transport. For the technology, Astana will be a serious challenge: it is one of the coldest capitals in the world, with snow, ice, and harsh winters. inDrive hopes that this experience will help launch robotaxis in other countries as well.

Currently, the companies are evaluating the technical, operational, regulatory, and commercial conditions of the project. The launch in Astana will take place after approval from the government of Kazakhstan. Then, the partners will consider expanding to other cities in the country and other inDrive markets.

Pony.ai was founded in 2016. Its driverless vehicles are already operating without drivers in major cities in China, as well as in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The inDrive app has been downloaded more than 400 million times, and the service operates in more than 1,200 cities in 47 countries.

Source: Pony.ai