Pony.ai gets permit for driverless robotaxi services in China’s Guangzhou

Pony.ai, a robotaxi firm, acquired a Guangzhou city authorization to conduct completely driverless ride-hailing services on Wednesday.

The Toyota Motor Corp.-backed (7203.T) business, which operates in China and the U.S., has permits for completely autonomous robotaxis in Beijing and Guangzhou.

The vehicles will not have drivers or safety operators.

Pony.ai began driverless testing in Guangzhou in June 2021 and has received approximately 200,000 fee-charging robotaxi orders worldwide as of this month, the company said.

The ride hailing service and Baidu (9888.HK) were granted the first licenses to test fully autonomous vehicles in Beijing last year. Both businesses received Beijing driverless taxi permits last month.

California-based Pony.ai’s next-generation robotaxi model has received on-road testing licenses in Beijing and Guangzhou, and it expects to launch robotaxi services soon.