A Pony.ai robotaxi drives on a public highway in a suburb in southern Beijing on July 11, 2024.
China Information Service | China Information Service | Getty Photographs
BEIJING — Within the newest step towards constructing a revenue-generating robotaxi enterprise, Chinese language start-up Pony.ai stated it has obtained China’s first allow to cost fares for absolutely driverless taxis in core components of a enterprise district of Shenzhen.
The town is a coastal tech hub in southern China, typically dubbed the nation’s Silicon Valley.
The license permits Pony.ai to cost fares for rides — with none human employees inside — in key components of the district of Nanshan, residence to tech giants Tencent and DJI. The allow doesn’t cowl journeys throughout your complete house, limiting it to areas such because the monetary sub-district.
Pony.ai has already operated robotaxis in components of a neighboring Shenzhen district and might run taxis with human employees inside on routes that hook up with the Shenzhen worldwide airport and Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint on the border with Hong Kong.
Whereas Pony.ai didn’t disclose what number of robotaxis it may function within the Shenzhen area, the corporate stated the driverless vehicles may run every day from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. native time.
Residents can e-book the robotaxi rides by means of Pony.ai’s app or a mini-program contained in the WeChat messaging app, in response to a press launch.
Pony.ai additionally operates robotaxis in components of the most important Chinese language cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, for a complete of greater than 250 vehicles throughout the nation as of late November.
In late 2021, native authorities in Beijing began permitting Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai to cost fares for robotaxis in a southern suburb of town.
In mid-March, Pony.ai additionally stated it was the primary firm to launch a paid robotaxi route from the suburb to Beijing South Railway Station. Customers should reserve the trip a day prematurely, and a human employees employee should sit within the driver’s seat, in response to present rules.
Pony.ai this week reported “a major improve” in passenger fares within the fourth quarter from a 12 months in the past, with out disclosing actual figures. However the firm stated its general income from robotaxi companies fell by almost 61.9% year-on-year to $2.6 million within the fourth quarter because of decreased service charges for autonomous car engineering options. It additionally famous its income from robotruck companies rose by 72.7% year-on-year to $12.9 million as a result of growth of its robotruck fleet.
