Robotaxi startup Pony.ai gains taxi license in China city

BEIJING (Reuters) – Self-driving tech firm Pony.ai, backed by Toyota Motor Corp, stated on Sunday it has obtained a taxi license in China, which can permit a few of its driverless automobiles to begin charging fares.

The corporate stated it was the primary autonomous driving firm within the nation to take action.

The startup stated it was awarded the license to function 100 driverless automobiles within the Guangzhou metropolis district of Nansha.

Pony.ai final yr additionally received approval to launch paid driverless robotaxi providers in Beijing and has since begun providing rides.

In Beijing, nevertheless, rides are being provided in a a lot smaller, industrial zone on a trial foundation, a Pony.ai spokesperson stated.

In response to the corporate’s assertion, in Nansha it’s going to begin charging fares in your entire 800 sq. km of the district with driverless vehicles. Passengers can hail and pay for rides with Pony.ai’s personal app.

Pony.ai will initially deploy these vehicles with security drivers however expects to take away them “over the brief to intermediate time-frame,” it stated.

The announcement comes at a time when a bunch of startups are pouring billions of {dollars} into autonomous expertise, aiming to take an early lead in the way forward for mobility.

Pony.ai has been lively in america and China, testing its driverless expertise on public roads in California’s Fremont and Milpitas, in addition to the Chinese language cities of Guangzhou and Beijing.

In China, a bunch of native startups are competing. In current months, Momenta and automaker SAIC gained official approval for a trial for his or her robotaxi service in Shanghai’s Jiading district, a transfer that adopted an analogous transfer in Guangzhou by Nissan-baked Weride .

In Shenzhen, Alibaba-backed AutoX can be testing robotaxis — noticed by security drivers — in a extremely congested city space with a lot of pedestrian and moped site visitors. 

(Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Enhancing by Kim Coghill)