Pony.ai

Our Story

About Us

Since our founding in Fremont, California, in late 2016, we have pioneered autonomous mobility deployment to benefit people in both the US and China. We are the first to launch and offer a public-facing Robotaxi service in California and China.

As we continue to make strides in our autonomous vehicle system, we look forward to having you along for the ride.

James Peng

Co-founder and CEO

Dr. Peng is an entrepreneur and leader in the self-driving car space. He is passionate about bringing great people together to solve challenging problems in future mobility. Under Dr. Peng’s leadership, Pony.ai has quickly become an industry leader and launched multiple autonomous driving fleets to the public across the globe. Prior to co-founding Pony.ai, Dr. Peng worked at Baidu and Google for 11 years. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.S. from Tsinghua University.

Tiancheng Lou

Co-founder and CTO

Commonly known by his handle “ACRush” within the programming community, Dr. Lou is a 11-year medalist of the TopCoder competitions and 2-time champion of the global programming competition Google Code Jam. Dr. Lou is committed to advancing technology that will improve the safety and efficiency of future mobility. Dr. Lou began his career at GoogleX, then he became the youngest T10 engineer at Baidu’s Autonomous Driving Division. Dr. Lou holds a Ph.D. and a B.S. from Tsinghua University.

Haojun Wang

CFO

As a founding member of the company, Dr. Haojun Wang has served as the technical leader of the Map and Localization module for autonomous driving, the Head of the US Site, and the Head of the Shanghai R&D center, bringing the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to Pony.ai's autonomous driving platform. Dr. Wang previously worked at IBM Silicon Valley Lab and Baidu's US R&D center, where he focused on database engine and big data information system development, and was an early member to lead the development of Baidu's self-driving Map and Localization system. He holds a B.S. from Shanghai Jiaotong University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California, specializing in multidimensional data and mobile location services research.

Andrew Yao

Chief Adviser

A world-renowned computer scientist, Dr. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao is widely recognized for his contribution to computer science and is the only Chinese recipient of the Turing Award, the most prestigious award in the field. Dr. Yao currently serves as a Professor and Dean of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghua University. Dr. Yao is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, among others. Dr. Yao holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University, and a B.S. in Physics from National Taiwan University.

Milestones

2024

May

Pony.ai is among the first to receive a permit to provide autonomous truck “platoon” formation testing in Beijing and became the only company in China to have obtained permits for “platoon” autonomous truck testing in two cities (Guangzhou and Beijing).

May

Pony.ai obtained Guangzhou’s first high-speed expressway testing license for both its robotruck and robotaxi; this enables the first testing of self-driving vehicles on Guangzhou’s expressways.

May

Pony.ai is approved to start autonomous driving tests between Beijing South Railway Station and Yizhuang District.

Apr

A joint venture, called "Zhui Feng", between Pony.ai, Toyota China and GAC Toyota is established. The first vehicle stemming from the joint venture, the bZ4X L4 driverless robotaxi concept vehicle, featuring Pony.ai’s 7th generation autonomous driving system (ADS), was unveiled in November 2023 and most recently displayed at Auto China in Beijing (the Beijing Auto Show) in April 2024. A fleet of a thousand bZ4X robotaxis will be deployed in the first phase to provide fully driverless autonomous mobility services in Tier-1 cities across China.

Mar

Pony.ai announced the signing of a joint venture with leading South Korean technology company, GemVaxLink, to develop advanced autonomous driving technologies and services for the South Korean market.

Mar

Luxembourg and Pony.ai Sign MoU to advance autonomous mobility in the country; the MoU represents a collaborative partnership between Luxembourg and Pony.ai, with the objective of fostering the research, development, and deployment of autonomous vehicles in Luxembourg.

Feb

Launched robotaxi service to Beijing Daxing International Airport.

Feb

Pony.ai's sixth-generation robotaxi approved for public-facing, fully driverless robotaxi service in Beijing.

Jan

Became the first in China to secure a cross-provincial robotruck permit and began testing on the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Expressway.

2023

Dec

Became the first to receive a permit to provide fare-charging, fully driverless robotaxi service in Guangzhou.

Nov

The sixth-generation robotaxi received a permit to provide fully driverless robotaxi service in Guangzhou.

Nov

Secured the first license for robotruck platooning testing in Guangzhou.

Nov

Debuted Pony.ai and Toyota EV robotaxi concept car, equipped with Pony.ai's seventh generation autonomous driving system.

Oct

Received $100 million investment from the NEOM Investment Fund and to establish JV.

Oct

Joined Abu Dhabi's Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industry (SAVI) cluster in UAE.

Sep

Received Shenzhen's first permit for driverless robotaxi service.

Sep

Became the first to launch robotruck logistics service in Beijing.

Sep

Launched autonomous driving tests at Beijing Daxing International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport.

Aug

Pony.ai announces that it will form a joint venture with Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (TMCI) and GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (GTMC). The three parties announce that they will form a joint venture to jointly advance the future mass production and large-scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis.

Jul

Pony.ai receives a driverless test permit in Shanghai's Pudong district, among the first batch of three companies to receive this permit.

May

Pony.ai becomes the first and only autonomous vehicle company to receive a city-level Shenzhen permit for driver out autonomous testing.

May

Pony.ai becomes the first and only autonomous vehicle company to receive a city-level Shenzhen permit for driver out autonomous testing.

Apr

Pony.is a first and only company to receive a permit to offer fully driverless, public-facing robotaxi services in Guangzhou.

Apr

The Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS (S-AM) model, a seven-seat platform for autonomous mobility, starts public road testing in Beijing. It's the first model equipped with Pony.ai's 6th generation autonomous driving system, which is designed for L4 automotive-grade mass production.

Mar

Pony.ai announces strategic partnerships with Meituan and Neolix, to help accelerate the large-scale implementation of both companies' autonomous delivery services.

Mar

Pony.ai receives a permit to offer fully driverless, public-facing robotaxi services in Beijing; Pony.ai is one of just two companies to receive this permit.

Jan

Announces the POV (personally owned vehicles) business unit.

Jan

Announces strategic cooperation with Horizon Robotics.

2022

Sep

Pony.ai and SAIC AI Lab to develop fully driverless EV robotaxi.

Sep

Received ISO 26262:2018 Automotive Functional Safety ASIL-D process certification.

Jul

Pony.ai Autonomous Driving Controller (ADC) built on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin, set for mass production. Pony.ai and SANY reached a strategic cooperation to develop next generation of autonomous trucks for mass production; received a permit to provide fare-charging driverless robotaxi services in Beijing.

Jun

Pony.ai Autonomous Driving Controller (ADC) built on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin, set for mass production

May

Launched robotaxi services in Shenzhen

Apr

Approved for Public Driverless Robotaxi Service in Beijing To launch Fleet of Robotaxis with Ontime, GAC’s ride-hailing app, in Guangzhou in 2022 Becomes the First Autonomous Driving Company to Receive a Taxi License in China

Mar

Unveiled joint venture with Sinotrans, Cyantron, started operation on April 1st, 2022.

Jan

Debuted 6th-generation autonomous driving system design, equipped on Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS (S-AM) platform; Achieved development milestone with new autonomous computing unit built on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin.

2021

Dec

Tested autonomous truck on expressway in Beijing, a first in China. Received autonomous vehicle testing permit in Shenzhen; with the addition of Shenzhen, Pony.ai now has autonomous driving public road testing permits in all four Tier-1 cities in China

Nov

Received approval for paid autonomous Robotaxi services in Beijing. Announced partnership with ONTIME, GAC’s ride-hailing app, to accelerate commercial deployment of autonomous driving technologies to a larger scale in China. Established R&D center in Shenzhen.

Oct

Granted to conduct driverless tests on public roads in Beijing.

Jul

First to receive the autonomous truck testing license in Beijing and the highway testing permits for passenger cars and trucks in Beijing’s Policy Pilot Zone for Intelligent Connected Vehicles.

Jun

Deployed fully autonomous vehicles to PonyPilot+ fleet in Guangzhou.

May

Received driverless vehicle testing permit from California DMV; Received commercial license for freight in China.

Apr

Upgraded public-facing Robotaxi service PonyPilot+; PonyTron formed a strategic partnership with ZF commercial vehicle group.

Mar

Announced PonyTron, the brand of autonomous truck business.

Feb

Completed mass production of PonyAlphaX from the production line.

2020

Dec

The first to receive the autonomous truck testing license in Guangzhou.

Nov

Unveiled PonyAlphaX, a standardized production of Pony.ai's autonomous driving system; Formed a strategic partnership with FAW in the field of autonomous driving technology.

Jul

Established R&D hub in Shanghai.

May

Received licenses to test autonomous vehicles carrying passengers on Beijing's roads, enabling Robotaxi pilot test.

Apr

Formed partnership with e-commerce platform Yamibuy to provide autonomous delivery service in Irvine, California.

Feb

Announced Series-C funding totals $545 million, including a $400 million strategic investment from Toyota.

2019

Nov

Exceeded 1 million Kilometers of testing mileage globally.

Oct

Launched California's first public Robotaxi service in the City of Irvine.

Aug

Established a strategic partnership with Toyota to co-develop autonomous driving technology.

Jun

Received autonomous vehicle pilot operation permit from California DMV; Received autonomous vehicle testing permit in Guangzhou.

Apr

Announced the layout of Pony.ai's autonomous truck for intelligent long-haul freight.

2018

Dec

Soft-launched PonyPilot, Pony's Robotaxi service and ride-hailing app.

Sep

Released PonyAlpha, Pony's third generation autonomous driving system.

Jun

Received Beijing's T3-level autonomous driving testing permit.

Feb

Formed a strategic partnership with GAC Group, and launched China's first autonomous vehicle fleet on open roads in Guangzhou.

2017

Oct

Established R&D hub in Guangzhou, China.

Mar

Received autonomous vehicle testing permit in California, and began testing on public roads.

2016

Dec

Pony.ai was founded in Fremont, California.

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