An autonomous automobile collectively developed by Toyota and Pony.ai is on show through the third China International Import Expo (CIIE) at the National Exhibition and Convention Center on November 5, 2020 in Shanghai, China.
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Pony.ai, an autonomous driving firm based mostly within the U.S. and China, stated Monday it’s now valued at $8.5 billion after a fresh injection of funds.
The funding spherical and comparatively excessive valuation highlights robust investor urge for food for a way forward for self-driving taxis and automobiles.
Pony.ai was based in 2016 and backed by automaker Toyota. The firm makes driverless programs that can be utilized by automakers and is a competitor to the likes of Waymo, the self-driving automobile subsidiary of Google mother or father Alphabet.
Pony.ai has been testing its robotaxis within the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou and in California. A security driver remains to be required behind the wheel.
The start-up has confronted some challenges of late. In December, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Pony.ai’s driverless testing permit after one among its automobiles hit a street middle divider and a site visitors sign up Fremont.
And final 12 months, Pony.ai halted plans to go public within the U.S. as China continued to tighten rules on the nation’s know-how sector, Reuters reported.
The cash from the newest money injection will go towards hiring, funding in analysis, testing of driverless taxis and trucking, and pushing towards mass industrial deployment, the corporate stated.
Pony.ai’s $8.5 billion valuation is an enormous step up from its final funding spherical in November 2020 when it was valued at $5.3 billion.
James Peng, CEO of Pony.ai, stated in an announcement the funding will even enable the corporate to “open up plenty of new autonomous automobile world testing and operation websites” and “progress” its strategic partnerships and develop its fleet of automobiles.
Pony.ai’s finance chief Lawrence Steyn, who was hired last year, stated the brand new cash “funds improvement at Pony.ai a number of years into the longer term — in reality, we imagine, as much as the window for our anticipated launch of mass commercialization.”
Steyn didn’t say when the corporate is concentrating on mass commercialization.
Pony.ai is one among a number of autonomous driving corporations with roots in China making an attempt to push commercialization of driverless automobiles. Some of its opponents embrace Alibaba-backed DeepRoute.ai in addition to WeRide. Meanwhile, web big Baidu has been aggressively increasing its autonomous automobile fleet and final 12 months gained approval to begin charging fares in Beijing for its robotaxis.