Pony.ai gets green signal to operate driverless robotaxis in Beijing

Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle (AV) technology company, will deploy driverless robotaxis in Beijing, China, following the approval from the capital city’s Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone.

This permit marks the third stage of fully driverless autonomous testing for Pony.ai in Beijing.

Under the new permission, the company will test 10 fully driverless L4 autonomous vehicles in challenging urban traffic situations across a 20 square kilometer area in the pilot zone in Yizhuang.

To be tested without any safety operators in the vehicle, the test autonomous vehicles will be monitored remotely.

Pony.ai is among the first batch of only two AV companies to receive a driverless testing permit.

The company is also currently testing driverless robotaxis in Guangzhou, China.

Pony.ai gets green signal to operate driverless robotaxis in Beijing. Photo courtesy of Business Wire.

In November 2022, Pony.ai secured a permit to test with a safety operator in the back seat of the car, without anyone in the front row, marking second of the three stages.

In July 2022, the company received approval to provide fare-charging robotaxi services with a safety driver in the passenger seat.

In April 2022, Pony .ai became the first and only AV company to secure a taxi license in China to operate as a taxi service in Guangzhou, apart from non-fare charging robotaxi rides in Beijing.

Pony.ai, has collaborated with an array of original equipment manufacturers such as Toyota, Sany, SAIC, GAC Group, and FAW Group.

The Baidu and Toyota Motor-backed start-up is said to have driven more than 12 million autonomous testing and operation so far.