Uber, WeRide and AVOMO Win Spain's First National Level 4 Robotaxi Permit

Pony.ai and its Croatian partner Verne have launched fully driverless robotaxi trials in Zagreb, the company's first such deployment in Europe. The service runs on public roads in Croatia's capital and is integrated with the Uber app for ride hailing. The Zagreb launch extends Pony.ai's autonomous ride service beyond its existing markets and gives the company a live European proof point for its joint deployment model, in which partners fund fleets while Pony.ai concentrates on Level 4 software and operations. Pony.ai, a US based software group focused on autonomous mobility in China and overseas, has a market cap of $2.8b, placing it in the mid sized bracket of global automation players. Investors can watch upcoming disclosures on paid ride volumes, fleet count and contribution margins from joint deployments like Zagreb to see whether unit economics in new cities start to resemble improving metrics already reported in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Tesla Inc. has lined up $30 billion of new loans and credit lines as the electric-car maker dials up investments in artificial intelligence and robotics. The company said it entered three credit agreements: a $20 billion term loan it can draw on later, an $8 billion line of credit for five years, and a $2 billion line of credit for about one year. The facilities replace a previous $5 billion of line of credit that was set to mature in January 2028, and Tesla said it doesn't currently plan to draw on any of them this year. Citigroup is administrative agent for the new delayed-draw term loan, while Wells Fargo & Co. is administrative agent for the credit lines. Tesla plans to spend more than $25 billion this year to expand its factory operations and its fleet of autonomous Cybercab robotaxis, and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on the company's July earnings call that it should spend on capex as fast as it can without being too wasteful. Under the new credit lines, Tesla has the option to increase commitments by as much as $4 billion, potentially increasing the facilities to $14 billion total.