Self-driving startup Pony. Ai has established a new department to develop assisted driving systems for passenger vehicles, as it tries to expand its revenue streams beyond autonomous taxis and trucks.
Pony.ai Inc. has established a new department to develop assisted driving systems for makers of passenger vehicles, as the Toyota-backed self-driving startup tries to expand its revenue streams beyond autonomous taxis and trucks.
The new unit has secured a contract to install its assisted driving technology in a model scheduled for mass production in 2023, Pony.ai’s Chief Operating Officer Wang Haojun said in a recent interview with Caixin. Wang declined to name the carmaker.
The move will bring Pony.ai new business opportunities in the Chinese market where the company will offer different levels of assisted driving systems compatible with many premium electric vehicles (EVs), which typically come with smart driving hardware such as laser-based sensors and artificial intelligence chips, according to Wang.
It comes as the development of fully-automated driving technology — Pony.ai’s core focus — continues to face safety and cost barriers.
In his interview with Caixin, Wang said that the paid robotaxi and autonomous trucking services have started generating revenue. But whether the services will be able to turn a profit is not clear. Pony.ai has never released its financial figures publicly.
The push marks the latest effort by Pony.ai to explore different commercial uses for its technologies, tapping into the race between passenger-car makers to launch models equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems providing functions like automated valet parking.
The firm is best known for developing Level 4 autonomous driving technology, the second-highest level of self-driving capability based on U.S. Society of Automotive Engineers standards, enabling a car to drive itself under most circumstances without human interventions.
Since its founding in 2016, the company has been exploring commercialization of its Level 4 technology through trialing its free robotaxi services in a limited number of cities in China and the U.S. It reached a milestone in July this year, when it obtained permission to trial
for autonomous rides in a designated area of suburban Beijing.
Pony.ai expanded its business scope in 2020, when it set up a unit tasked with building self-driving rigs, which tend to operate in less complex driving environments such as on highways, making them low-hanging fruit in pursuit of turning the firm’s self-driving technology into a profitable business.
In May 2021, Pony.ai
to conduct commercial autonomous freight operations in a district of Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong province. In July this year, the company announced it would establish a joint venture with China’s top construction-machinery maker Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. to produce driverless trucks, with mass production expected to start in 2024. The deal with Sany came just months after Pony.ai signed an agreement with Chinese logistics company Sinotrans Ltd. to set up a joint venture for building a smart trucking platform.
Since its establishment in 2016, Pony.ai has completed several rounds of fundraising, with the most recent round in March this year, which boosted its valuation to $8.5 billion. The company said at the time that the capital would be used to fund the testing of driverless taxis and trucks, hire talent, increase R&D capabilities, and commercialize its technologies.
