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

Ride-hailing company inDrive has signed a memorandum of understanding with autonomous driving firm Pony.ai and Nvidia to test robotaxis in Kazakhstan, with trials set to begin in the capital, Astana, during the first half of 2027. According to TechCrunch, which reported the agreement, the tests will initially run with a safety operator on board, with fully driverless rides as the eventual goal.

The deal marks autonomous ride-hailing's first move into Central Asia and reflects how quickly the technology is spreading beyond the US and China.

How the three companies split the work

Under the proposed arrangement, Pony.ai would supply its seventh-generation robotaxis, inDrive would operate the vehicles and offer them through its ride-hailing app, and Nvidia would provide the AI layer, including its Hyperion platform and Halos safety system.

inDrive CTO Yuri Misnik described the company's approach as "capital-light by design," pairing partners' technology with inDrive's own operational experience rather than developing autonomy in-house.

Nvidia positions Hyperion as a way to cut robotaxi development costs by packaging sensors and computing into a pre-built foundation instead of requiring each company to assemble and integrate everything itself. It also offers an Alpamayo driving model and tools for generating synthetic data and testing autonomous systems across varied driving scenarios. Ali Kani, Nvidia's vice president of automotive, told TechCrunch those savings matter most in emerging markets, where ride-hailing is already affordable and autonomous services must compete on cost.

The announcement coincided with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's first visit to Kazakhstan.

A deliberately difficult test bed

Astana, home to roughly 1.7 million people, endures months of snow and ice each year — conditions that put real strain on perception and planning systems. inDrive founder and CEO Arsen Tomsky said launching there would provide an important opportunity to evaluate autonomous driving in challenging winter conditions, and that success in Astana could yield insights for expanding autonomous mobility to other places with similar climates.

Kazakhstan has been laying the groundwork: TechCrunch reports the country announced plans last month to launch autonomous taxi services in 2027, with initial trials planned for Astana and two other cities, and it has introduced rules allowing autonomous vehicles to be tested on certain public roads.

The deal also advances Pony.ai's push beyond China. The company targets a fleet of more than 3,500 robotaxis operating in more than 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2026, up from 1,975 vehicles at the end of June.

Not the only lane

inDrive faces competition on multiple fronts. Uber said earlier this month that it plans to test Pony.ai's robotaxis in London, where it has also started offering supervised autonomous rides with British startup Wayve, and it works with several robotaxi companies in the Middle East.

Kazakhstan is not inDrive's only autonomy play either. In December the company signed a separate agreement with Saudi Arabia's AI Driver to deploy vehicles powered by Chinese self-driving firm WeRide, starting with Riyadh, with a pilot targeted for the first half of 2026 — though TechCrunch notes it remains unclear whether that testing has begun. Misnik said inDrive is also evaluating other markets for future deployments, and views a favorable, collaborative regulatory environment as a prerequisite for safe and sustainable road testing.

inDrive, whose platform lets riders and drivers settle fares through negotiation, operates in more than 1,200 cities across 47 countries and has expanded into delivery, intercity transportation and financial services.

Why it matters

The agreement shows autonomous ride-hailing pushing past the US–China axis into price-sensitive emerging markets, where the economics of autonomy may be decided. Nvidia's packaged hardware-and-software stack lowers the barrier for regional operators like inDrive to enter the space without building self-driving technology themselves — a template that could accelerate adoption well beyond Kazakhstan.

Astana's winters also make this one of the tougher real-world validations of robotaxi technology. If Pony.ai's vehicles can handle months of snow and ice, it strengthens the case for autonomy in similar climates from northern Europe to North America. And with Kazakhstan introducing formal testing rules, the deal illustrates how governments are competing to host autonomous vehicle trials, putting Central Asia on the map for a technology race that has mostly played out elsewhere.