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About Us

Since our founding in Fremont, California, in late 2016, we have pioneered autonomous mobility deployment to benefit people in both the US and China. We are the first to launch and offer a public-facing Robotaxi service in California and China.

As we continue to make strides in our autonomous vehicle system, we look forward to having you along for the ride.

James Peng

Co-founder and CEO

Dr. Peng is an entrepreneur and leader in the self-driving car space. He is passionate about bringing great people together to solve challenging problems in future mobility. Under Dr. Peng’s leadership, Pony.ai has quickly become an industry leader and launched multiple autonomous driving fleets to the public across the globe. Prior to co-founding Pony.ai, Dr. Peng worked at Baidu and Google for 11 years. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.S. from Tsinghua University.

Tiancheng Lou

Co-founder and CTO

Commonly known by his handle “ACRush” within the programming community, Dr. Lou is a 11-year medalist of the TopCoder competitions and 2-time champion of the global programming competition Google Code Jam. Dr. Lou is committed to advancing technology that will improve the safety and efficiency of future mobility. Dr. Lou began his career at GoogleX, then he became the youngest T10 engineer at Baidu’s Autonomous Driving Division. Dr. Lou holds a Ph.D. and a B.S. from Tsinghua University.

Haojun Wang

CFO

As a founding member of the company, Dr. Haojun Wang has served as the technical leader of the Map and Localization module for autonomous driving, the Head of the US Site, and the Head of the Shanghai R&D center, bringing the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to Pony.ai's autonomous driving platform. Dr. Wang previously worked at IBM Silicon Valley Lab and Baidu's US R&D center, where he focused on database engine and big data information system development, and was an early member to lead the development of Baidu's self-driving Map and Localization system. He holds a B.S. from Shanghai Jiaotong University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California, specializing in multidimensional data and mobile location services research.

Andrew Yao

Chief Adviser

A world-renowned computer scientist, Dr. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao is widely recognized for his contribution to computer science and is the only Chinese recipient of the Turing Award, the most prestigious award in the field. Dr. Yao currently serves as a Professor and Dean of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Information Sciences (IIIS) at Tsinghua University. Dr. Yao is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, among others. Dr. Yao holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University, and a B.S. in Physics from National Taiwan University.

Milestones
2022
Sept.
Pony.ai and SAIC AI Lab to develop fully driverless EV robotaxi. Pony.ai will be launching a robotaxi fleet in Suzhou, China, together with GEELY's ride-hailing arm, Caocao Mobility. Received ISO 26262:2018 Automotive Functional Safety ASIL-D process certification.
Aug.
Beijing residents will be able to hail a Pony.ai car and experience our robotaxi service via Caocao Chuxing’s mobile app. Caocao Chuxing is the ride-hailing unit of automaker Geely.
July.
Pony.ai Autonomous Driving Controller (ADC) built on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin, set for mass production. Pony.ai and SANY established Joint Venture to develop next generation of autonomous trucks for mass production; received a permit to provide fare-charging driverless robotaxi services in Beijing.
June.
Pony.ai Autonomous Driving Controller (ADC) built on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin, set for mass production
May.
Launched robotaxi services in Shenzhen
Apr.
Approved for Public Driverless Robotaxi Service in Beijing To launch Fleet of Robotaxis with Ontime, GAC’s ride-hailing app, in Guangzhou in 2022 Becomes the First Autonomous Driving Company to Receive a Taxi License in China
Mar.
Unveiled joint venture with Sinotrans, Cyantron, started operation on April 1st, 2022. Announced first close of Series D funding round, with a valuation of $8.5 Billion
Jan.
Debuted 6th-generation autonomous driving system design, equipped on Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS (S-AM) platform; Achieved development milestone with new autonomous computing unit built on NVIDIA DRIVE Orin.
2021
Dec.
Tested autonomous truck on expressway in Beijing, a first in China. Received autonomous vehicle testing permit in Shenzhen; with the addition of Shenzhen, Pony.ai now has autonomous driving public road testing permits in all four Tier-1 cities in China
Nov.
Received approval for paid autonomous Robotaxi services in Beijing. Announced partnership with ONTIME, GAC’s ride-hailing app, to accelerate commercial deployment of autonomous driving technologies to a larger scale in China. Established R&D center in Shenzhen.
Oct.
Granted to conduct driverless tests on public roads in Beijing.
July.
First to receive the autonomous truck testing license in Beijing and the highway testing permits for passenger cars and trucks in Beijing’s Policy Pilot Zone for Intelligent Connected Vehicles.
June.
Deployed fully autonomous vehicles to PonyPilot+ fleet in Guangzhou.
May.
Received driverless vehicle testing permit from California DMV; Received commercial license for freight in China.
Apr.
Upgraded public-facing Robotaxi service PonyPilot+; PonyTron formed a strategic partnership with ZF commercial vehicle group.
Mar.
Announced PonyTron, the brand of autonomous truck business.
Feb.
Completed mass production of PonyAlphaX from the production line; Announced Series-C funding of $367 million with a valuation at over 5.3 billion, over 1.1 billion raised in total.
2020
Dec.
The first to receive the autonomous truck testing license in Guangzhou.
Nov.
Unveiled PonyAlphaX, a standardized production of Pony.ai's autonomous driving system; Formed a strategic partnership with FAW in the field of autonomous driving technology.
July.
Established R&D hub in Shanghai.
May.
Received licenses to test autonomous vehicles carrying passengers on Beijing's roads, enabling Robotaxi pilot test.
Apr.
Formed partnership with e-commerce platform Yamibuy to provide autonomous delivery service in Irvine, California.
Feb.
Announced Series-B funding totals $462 million, including a $400 million strategic investment from Toyota.
2019
Nov.
Exceeded 1 million Kilometers of testing mileage globally.
Oct.
Launched California's first public Robotaxi service in the City of Irvine.
Aug.
Established a strategic partnership with Toyota to co-develop autonomous driving technology.
June.
Received autonomous vehicle pilot operation permit from California DMV; Received autonomous vehicle testing permit in Guangzhou.
Apr.
Announced the layout of Pony.ai's autonomous truck for intelligent long-haul freight.
2018
Dec.
Soft-launched PonyPilot, Pony's Robotaxi service and ride-hailing app.
Sept.
Released PonyAlpha, Pony's third generation autonomous driving system.
June.
Received Beijing's T3-level autonomous driving testing permit.
Feb.
Formed a strategic partnership with GAC Group, and launched China's first autonomous vehicle fleet on open roads in Guangzhou.
2017
Oct.
Established R&D hub in Guangzhou, China.
Mar.
Received autonomous vehicle testing permit in California, and began testing on public roads.
2016
Dec.
Pony.ai was founded in Fremont, California.
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