Ride-hailing company inDrive plans to test Pony.ai robotaxis in Astana, Kazakhstan, during the first half of 2027 under a memorandum signed with Pony.ai and Nvidia.
The proposed pilot would place Pony.ai’s seventh-generation vehicles on the inDrive platform. Nvidia would supply technology including its Hyperion sensor-and-compute platform and Halos safety system. Testing is expected to start with a safety operator, while fully driverless rides remain a later goal rather than part of the initial deployment.
Astana offers a demanding environment for the trial. Its long periods of snow and ice could reveal limitations that do not appear in milder testing locations. Kazakhstan has introduced rules allowing autonomous vehicles on selected public roads and has announced plans for taxi trials in Astana and two other cities in 2027.
The agreement does not yet guarantee a commercial service. The partners must validate the vehicles, satisfy local regulators and show that autonomous rides can compete with already affordable human-driven transport. inDrive describes its approach as capital-light because it integrates partners’ vehicles rather than building the full system itself. Pony.ai, meanwhile, is pursuing deployments beyond China and says it aims to operate more than 3,500 robotaxis in over 20 cities by the end of 2026.