Bolt has announced Luxembourg as its first market for autonomous mobility testing.
A three-way pilot programme brings together the shared mobility giant with automaker Stellantis and autonomous driving technology company Pony.ai to validate safety, performance and readiness of self-driving technology in Luxembourg.
The launch represents Bolt’s first AV market since unveiling its autonomous mobility ambitions last November, entering a European race that ride-hailing competitors like Uber and Lyft had already established a presence in.
Markus Villig, Founder and CEO of Bolt, said the company “welcomes Luxembourg’s progressive approach” to autonomous vehicle testing.
Dr. James Peng, Founder and CEO of Pony.ai, added that Luxembourg’s “forward-looking” regulatory environment provides “a strong foundation for autonomous mobility testing in Europe”.
Pony.ai has already established a foothold in the country. The firm opened its Luxembourg hub in 2024 and became the first company authorised to conduct scientific autonomous vehicle testing on public roads in the country last year.
What the new pilot involves
The pilot will reportedly validate the safety, performance and regulatory readiness of Pony.ai’s Gen-7 autonomous vehicles in Luxembourg’s traffic environment.
Pony.ai’s autonomous driving technology will operate on a midsize van based on Stellantis’ L4-Ready Platform while Bolt will contribute its ride-hailing platform and network.
The pilot is being positioned as a “living lab” for testing both the autonomous technology and the operational processes required to scale such as vehicle deployment, ride-hailing platform integration, fleet management and regulatory coordination.
The programme builds on Bolt’s existing partnerships with Pony.ai and Stellantis which have been announced in recent months. When Bolt reported its entry into the AV sector last year, it was through a partnership with Pony.ai to integrate the Chinese company’s Level 4 autonomous technology into Bolt’s European operations.
Less than a month later, Bolt announced a separate partnership with Stellantis as part of its ambition to deploy 100,000 autonomous vehicles by 2035.
Zag has contacted Bolt for further details on why Luxembourg was selected as its first AV testbed, the expected timeline for testing and whether the company is targeting the nation as its first commercial autonomous vehicle market in Europe. This article will be updated with a response.