Pony.ai Introduces Driverless Robotaxi Service in Shenzhen, Following Profitable Launch in Guangzhou

Chinese language autonomous car startup Pony.ai has launched its driverless robotaxi service in Shenzhen.

On Monday, the autonomous car expertise firm revealed that it has acquired a allow in Shenzhen to conduct robotaxi companies with out an onboard security officer within the metropolis’s core areas, in accordance with a report by CnEVPost.

Pony.ai was based in late 2016, and since then has established analysis and improvement (R&D) facilities in Silicon Valley, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, and is working robotaxi operations domestically. 

The corporate launched the robotaxi app PonyPilot in December 2018, and in November 2020, it secured a allow to function the robotaxi service in Beijing. 

In March 2021, Pony.ai introduced that it had acquired a license in Beijing to function absolutely unmanned robotaxi companies inside a 60 sq.km space within the Yizhuang Financial Improvement Zone.

In April, the corporate was granted permission to supply robotaxi service and not using a security officer within the car in Guangzhou.

Baidu is the one different agency that has obtained such a allow.

Pony.ai Has 200,000 Paid Journey Orders

Pony.ai’s growth into the sprawling metropolis of Shenzhen comes as the corporate has been capable of rapidly roll out self-driving expertise in numerous cities. 

The corporate mentioned that driverless autos have to bear rigorous testing earlier than hitting the street, together with distant and excessive situations, security administration, community and knowledge safety, threat response, and a complete evaluation by specialists and authorities departments. 

To this point, Pony.ai has greater than 1 million kilometres of absolutely unmanned testing and almost 200,000 paid journey orders.

Pony.ai, which is backed by Toyota Motor and NIO Capital, goals to stay on the forefront of China’s quickly rising autonomous car market. 

The Chinese language authorities has recognized self-driving automobiles as a key strategic space for development and has been actively supporting the event of the sector.

The nation had beforehand said that it needs to have autos with partial self-driving expertise account for 50% of all new-auto gross sales by 2025.

In the meantime, Pony.ai faces stiff competitors from rivals comparable to Baidu and Didi Chuxing.

Autonomous automobiles have been in improvement for over a decade, however the market has been heating up only in the near past as traders and automakers pour billions of {dollars} into the enterprise. 

A number of corporations together with Waymo, Cruise, and Zoox, have launched their very own robotaxi companies everywhere in the world. 

Robotaxis are anticipated to cut back site visitors, decrease transportation prices, and enhance security. 

In addition they have the potential to considerably cut back site visitors congestion. A fleet of self-driving automobiles may be programmed to journey in essentially the most environment friendly approach attainable, avoiding site visitors jams, and ready instances. 

By lowering site visitors congestion, Robotaxis will help alleviate the problems of air air pollution and environmental degradation brought on by lengthy idling instances in congested site visitors.