Pony.ai has signed a memorandum of understanding with inDrive and NVIDIA to explore autonomous ride-hailing in Kazakhstan. Announced on October 23, 2026, the agreement identifies Astana as the proposed first test market. The partners will assess offering driverless rides through the inDrive app, subject to government agreement.
Partnership Framework and Responsibilities
The three companies would assume different roles in a potential robotaxi service. Pony.ai would supply its seventh-generation autonomous vehicles, while inDrive would manage bookings through its existing ride-hailing platform and operate the service. NVIDIA would contribute AI infrastructure, although the project remains exploratory.
The partners will examine technical performance, operating requirements, regulatory compliance and commercial viability before determining how to proceed. The assessment concerns Level 4-ready vehicles, designed to drive without human intervention under defined conditions. The memorandum does not establish a firm launch date, initial fleet size or investment commitment, and the companies have made implementation conditional on an agreement with the Kazakh government.
Autonomous Driving Technology
Pony.ai plans to use its Gen-7 Robotaxi platform, designed to support reliable autonomous operations. Its architecture combines multiple sensors, redundant critical systems and capabilities intended to handle certain component failures. These capabilities form part of Pony.ai's broader effort to scale driverless transportation beyond the Chinese cities where it already runs fully autonomous commercial services.
NVIDIA contributes computing and safety technologies for advanced autonomous vehicles. Its Hyperion platform provides a reference architecture for vehicle sensors and onboard computing, while the company's wider robotaxi technology offering includes the Alpamayo software stack and Halos safety framework. These tools support Level 4 development, but the partners have not specified the Kazakhstan project's final technical configuration.
Why Kazakhstan and Astana
Kazakhstan was selected partly because of recent steps to establish a legal framework for driverless transportation. Its digitalization and artificial intelligence agenda provides a setting the partners consider suitable for testing autonomous mobility. Even with that groundwork, moving from a feasibility study to passenger operations will require further coordination with public authorities.
Astana offers an urban environment in which the companies can assess whether robotaxis could complement existing transport options. The capital has approximately 1.7 million residents, according to the announcement, and inDrive already has a presence in the Kazakh market. The partners could assess demand, operating performance and requirements for booking autonomous rides through an existing app.
Potential for International Expansion
For Pony.ai, the project represents another opportunity to evaluate its autonomous driving technology outside China. Founded in 2016, the company has pursued robotaxi, autonomous trucking and other intelligent mobility applications, with deployments reported across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The Kazakhstan initiative would extend its work into a Central Asian market through a partnership with an existing ride-hailing operator.
inDrive could also use the collaboration to explore how autonomous vehicles might fit within its broader transportation network. It reports over 400 million app downloads and operations in more than 1,200 cities across 47 countries. If the Astana project progresses, the partners intend to assess opportunities in other Kazakh cities and additional markets where inDrive operates.
The memorandum positions Astana as a testing ground for Pony.ai's vehicles, inDrive's platform and NVIDIA's AI infrastructure. However, the initiative remains an assessment of feasibility, and no confirmed start date or operating scale has been disclosed. Its next steps will depend on technical and commercial evaluations, government agreement and whether the proposed service can meet local requirements before any wider expansion is considered.