Marti Partners With CalmCar to Bring Autonomous Driving to Türkiye's Mobility App

Marti Technologies announced a partnership with CalmCar to bring autonomous driving technology to its mobility platform in Türkiye, with the first CalmCar-equipped vehicle having arrived in the country. Business Wire reported the partnership on October 30, 2026, and said Marti expects to begin closed-area testing in Istanbul subject to obtaining required test permits.

How the Marti and CalmCar Partnership Works

Marti, which offers ride-hailing services in 40 cities across Türkiye representing approximately 90% of the country's GDP, said the first vehicle equipped with CalmCar's autonomous driving technology has arrived in Türkiye. Marti expects to begin closed-area testing of the vehicle in Istanbul, subject to obtaining required test permits. Following launch, Marti platform consumers will be able to experience the autonomous driving technology using the Marti app.

CalmCar, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Suzhou, China, is a software-focused provider of L2–L2+ and Level 4 autonomous driving solutions. Its Level 4 technology powers robobus services in regular operation in Chinese cities including Chongqing and Chengdu.

"Our initial focus is on supporting closed-area testing, subject to obtaining the required permits, and evaluating the technology under local operating conditions," said Chen Wei, Co-founder of CalmCar.

Marti Founder and Chief Executive Officer Oguz Alper Oktem said: "Our goal is to work with multiple partners and to select the autonomous driving technology partners best suited to Türkiye." Marti cited approximately 8.3 million all-time unique platform consumers.

CalmCar's Funding and Research Record

According to akta.pro company records, CalmCar closed a 500 million yuan (approximately $70 million) Series D financing round in July 2025 backed by state-owned industrial funds and technology investors, with existing shareholders ZF, SAIC Motor, and BAIC Group making follow-on investments. The same records list a March 2026 funding round led by Shouzheng Capital and total funding of $238.5 million at the Series D stage.

CalmCar established the HKUST-CalmCar Physical AI Innovation Center in Hong Kong in June 2026 alongside an Industry-Research Alliance and Capital Alliance, with CalmCar serving as the initial test bed for applying World Model and physical AI technologies to advanced autonomous driving. Tsinghua University, Microsoft Research Asia and Arm China joined as inaugural industry partners in the alliance.

Autonomous Driving Deals Across the Sector

Waymo's Canadian launch in Toronto, expected in 2028, will use Element Fleet Management Corp. for end-to-end fleet management, Auto Remarketing reported on October 29, 2026. Moomoo reported on October 28, 2026, that Horizonrobot-W's CoreDrive joint venture with Volkswagen had integrated its full-scenario advanced driver-assistance system into seven all-new electrified models across Volkswagen Group's three Chinese joint ventures since Q3 2026.

Whalesbook reported on October 26, 2026, that Tesla is integrating its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software into the Turo rental platform, offering eligible hosts a one-month free trial. Reuters reported on October 23, 2026, that Baidu and Lyft are testing robotaxis in London with safety drivers, aiming for fully driverless vehicles by next year and a commercial launch in 2027.