Pony.ai and GAC AION Cooperate, the First Batch of Robotaxi Vehicles Will Be Launched Next Year

On December 11th, Pony.ai and GAC AION held a Robotaxi strategic cooperation signing ceremony at the GAC Group’s headquarters in Panyu. The two parties will further collaborate to create commercially competitive mass-produced Robotaxi models and jointly promote the commercialization of fully autonomous Robotaxis.

According to the agreement, both parties will jointly develop a fully redundant front-loading mass-produced Robotaxi vehicle platform based on GAC AION’s global vehicle model and Pony.ai’s seventh-generation autonomous driving software and hardware system solution. The two parties have already started a technical challenge in areas such as the development of auto-grade kits for autonomous driving vehicles, vehicle production, and chassis redundancy safety design. They plan to launch at least thousands of units of GAC AION Robotaxi models, with the first batch expected to be completed by 2025 and deployed first in the Greater Bay Area before expanding to more regions and countries.

Since this year, Pony.ai has been strengthening cooperation with car companies such as Toyota, GAC, and BAIC. The cooperation includes forward research and development of vehicle models, production line construction, road testing, public announcement certification etc. At the same time,Pony.ai is promoting the production and operation of Robotaxi vehicle platforms on a scale of thousands or more units with the goal of achieving positive gross profit per single operating Robotaxi when reaching a scale of one thousand units.

As early as 2018, Pony.ai began cooperation with GAC Group, involving autonomous driving vehicles and technology, capital fields, etc.

Pony.ai and GAC AION jointly developed the AION LX L4 level Robotaxi model equipped with Pony.ai’s third-generation autonomous driving system in 2019 and conducted public road tests.

In addition, the AION LX L4 level Robotaxi vehicle platform equipped with Pony.ai’s sixth-generation autonomous driving system was selected for the second batch of models in Guangzhou’s intelligent connected vehicle catalog in 2022 and provided autonomous driving travel services to the public.

In October 2024, GAC Capital invested $27 million in Pony.ai to jointly promote commercial operation of Robotaxi.

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