After becoming the first autonomous driving company to obtain a taxi operating license two days ago, Pony.ai has made further progress in advancing the commercialization of autonomous driving services. Yesterday, Pony.ai officially announced a deeper collaboration with CAR Inc., where the two will integrate resources in autonomous driving R&D and mobility to jointly build a fleet of one hundred self-driving cars.
Pony.ai will provide CAR Inc. with self-developed electric cars based on their “Virtual Driver” technology, equipped with a Level 4 autonomous driving software and hardware solution. In order to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving, Pony.ai has adopted a two-pronged strategy. On the one hand, they are building their own autonomous driving platform, and on the other hand, they are working with third-party partners to expand their operational scale. Users will be able to hail self-driving cars not only through the PonyPilot+ App but also through CAR Inc.
Commercialization is the most important aspect of autonomous driving, and currently, most Level 4 Robotaxi services are limited by operating areas and vehicle maintenance issues, making it difficult for users to have a true “hail-a-ride” experience. Collaborating with ride-hailing companies can reduce the pressure on autonomous driving operations and also provide more data for the vehicles.
In order to expand the ecosystem of the autonomous driving industry chain, Pony.ai has also participated in CAR Inc.’s Series A financing.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.