Pony.ai and Toyota to Form Joint Venture to Advance Mass Production of L4 Autonomous Vehicles

The Pony.ai and Toyota joint venture will enable the full commercialization of autonomous mobility

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pony.ai, a leading global autonomous driving company, held a joint venture signing ceremony today with Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (TMCI) and GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (GTMC). The three parties announced that they will form a joint venture to jointly advance the future mass production and large-scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis.

The joint venture company will be established in 2023, with an estimated investment of more than RMB 1 billion (approx. USD 139.2 million). GTMC will provide Pony.ai with Toyota branded battery electric vehicles, which are equipped with Toyota’s vehicle redundant systems that are suitable for L4 autonomous driving development. The vehicles will be equipped with Pony.ai’s advanced autonomous driving technology and will run on Pony.ai’s robotaxi network platform, PonyPilot+. The parties’ joint efforts will deliver safe and convenient robotaxi services for riders.

The joint venture combines Pony.ai's world-class autonomous driving technology and robotaxi operations experience, Toyota’s highly regarded vehicle technologies, and GTMC's advanced production experience. It will provide the capacity for scaled-up robotaxi services, encourage the full commercialization of advanced autonomous mobility, and drive the development of the entire industry into a new stage.

The joint venture will deepen the long-time collaboration between Pony.ai and Toyota. In August 2019, Pony.ai and Toyota announced they would jointly advance the development of autonomous vehicles in China. In September 2019, the two companies joined hands to lead autonomous driving testing on public roads in China, using Toyota's Lexus RX 450h model and Pony.ai’s autonomous driving systems. In April 2023, the Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS (S-AM) vehicle equipped with Pony.ai's sixth generation autonomous driving software and hardware system started public road testing in both Beijing and Guangzhou.

Among its self-owned fleets, Pony.ai currently has a combined fleet of around 200 Toyota and Lexus brand robotaxis, located in all four of China’s Tier-1 cities (Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen) for road tests and public-facing robotaxi operations.

About Pony.ai

Leading global autonomous driving company Pony.ai, Inc. (“Pony.ai”) is pursuing an ambitious vision for autonomous mobility. We aim to bring safe, sustainable, and accessible mobility to the entire world. We believe that autonomous technology can make our roads exponentially safer for travelers. Founded in late 2016, Pony.ai has been a pioneer in extending autonomous mobility technologies and services at a rapidly expanding footprint of sites around the world. Pony.ai has formed partnerships with leading OEMs, including Toyota, SAIC, SANY, FAW Group, GAC Group, etc. To date, Pony.ai has driven over 24 million autonomous testing and operation kilometers (nearly 15 million miles) on open roads worldwide.