Autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai has been awarded a permit in Guangzhou to operate 100 robotaxis as traditional taxis. Starting May, the license allows Pony to charge for rides in its autonomous vehicles. This is a major milestone for autonomous vehicles, as this is the first time China has provided a taxi license to an autonomous fleet without the need to partner with a traditional taxi operator.
This is the second license granted to Pony.ai with the first awarded for Beijing in December 2021. Pony.ai is the only company approved for autonomous driving commercialization in China. Plans are to expand its commercialized robotaxi footprint to an additional two Tier-1 cities in China over the next year and with further expansion throughout the next few years.
“The inclusion of autonomous vehicles in the unified and standardized management of taxis proves that both government policy and the public are increasingly accepting robotaxis as a form of everyday transportation, recognizing the ride experience and technical stability of Pony.ai’s robotaxi,” said Tiancheng Lou, co-founder and chief technology officer of Pony.ai in a statement.
Passengers will be able to hail a ride and pay through the PonyPilot+ App between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m., with fares based on “standard taxi pricing in Guangzhou,” according to Pony. Each ride will initially have a human safety driver in the front seat, although Pony has stated its intention to remove the driver “over the short to intermediate time frame.”
“To qualify for the license, Pony.ai had to pass stringent safety and other multifaceted vehicle qualification tests set forth by national inspection institutions, such as having at least 24 months of [autonomous driving (AD)] testing in China and/or other countries, at least 1 million kilometers of testing mileage, at least 200,000 kilometers of AD testing within Guangzhou’s designated test area, and no involvement in any active liability traffic accidents,” the company said in a statement.
The Vexnova Take:
Pony.ai last month announced an undisclosed series D raise that brought the company’s valuation up to $8.5 billion. Granted permits in China will continue to drive up the company’s valuation and push the autonomous vehicle market to work with both local and federal governments to obtain similar approvals.
According to an Reuters article, a group of 12 U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday April 27 urged Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to develop a comprehensive federal framework for autonomous vehicles. A letter obtained by Reuters stated, “We lag behind in shaping a regulatory framework that will foster this innovation while simultaneously protecting and encouraging all of the important benefits we believe autonomous vehicles are capable of delivering,” wrote the senators, led by Gary Peters, who chairs a Senate Commerce subcommittee on surface transportation. “Autonomous vehicles hold great promise to deliver significant benefits for all Americans – but only if the federal government puts the necessary policies in place to achieve these benefits.”
A year and a half since its Phoenix debut, Waymo remains the only company in the U.S. providing fully autonomous taxis on a commercial basis. Additionally, a report by J.D. Power, states the Chinese consumer confidence index for autonomous vehicles reached 50 points on a 100-point scale, much higher than the 36 points of confidence among American consumers. China appears to be leading the way with a more aggressive approach than both the US and Europe.