Starting in Kazakhstan lets inDrive test robotaxis where regulation is ready, before taking the model to its other markets
Ride-hailing platform inDrive, Pony.ai and Nvidia have entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to study autonomous ride-hailing, with Kazakhstan as the first test market. The partners plan to launch Pony.ai’s seventh-generation robotaxis in Astana, the capital, subject to an agreement with the Kazakh government.
Kazakhstan was picked for its new legal framework for driverless transport, its first, introduced during a national push on digitalisation and AI. The companies will assess the regulatory, technical, operational and commercial case for offering level 4-ready vehicles through the inDrive app.
Pony.ai would supply the vehicles, inDrive would run the service, and Nvidia would contribute AI infrastructure, with the system built on its Hyperion platform, Alpamayo Stack and Halos safety software. Astana has around 1.7 million residents, and inDrive Founder and Chief Executive Arsen Tomsky noted it is the world’s second-coldest capital, offering a hard test of autonomy in snow and ice.
For inDrive, which operates in more than 1,200 cities across 47 countries, the trial is a low-risk way to learn how robotaxis could fit a marketplace built around human drivers. Pony.ai brings experience from fully driverless commercial service in Chinese cities and deployments in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. If Astana succeeds, the partners will consider other Kazakh cities and further inDrive markets.
Source: Poni.ai
