As the first startup to receive the Autonomous Driving Manned Test License, Pony.ai will focus on carrying out online car-hailing and fixed-point connection tests.
Autonomous car. Image credit: Pony.ai website
► After the company launched China's first urban public Robotaxi services in Guangzhou in 2018, it can carry out manned tests in Beijing.
► In California, it obtained a dual license for self-driving road testing and taxi services.
As planned, Pony.ai will carry out manned road tests on public roads in Haidian, Yizhuang and other districts in Beijing, which will be another important step in the development of productization and commercialization for the company and the autonomous driving industry.
Based on this, the firm hopes to provide Beijing with a safer, more convenient and smarter future travel solution, to help alleviate urban traffic jams, improve logistics efficiency and build a smart city.
At the end of 2019, Beijing issued the newly revised 'Beijing Autonomous Vehicles Road Test Management Implementation Rules (Trial),' becoming the third first-tier city to open manned testing for autonomous driving after Guangzhou and Shanghai.
The 'Implementation Rules' divides the manned test into three phases, which stipulates that the minimum cumulative mileage of the main self-driving road test for the first phase of the test body is 100,000 kilometers.
By comparison, according to the 'Beijing Autonomous Vehicle Road Test Report (2019),' the five test vehicles of Pony.ai reached a mileage of 114,700 kilometers last year, which means that the company has met the requirements for applying for Beijing's self-driving manned test license.
And the average mileage of bicycles was 22,940 kilometers per year, ranking first among all 13 testing companies in the city.
In addition, Pony.ai has obtained the first batch of intelligent network-connected car road test licenses in Guangzhou and double licenses for the self-driving road test and taxi services in California and has nearly 100 autonomous cars worldwide. Public road test mileage in urban areas has exceeded 2 million kilometers.
According to the information published on the website, the company launched China's first urban public road autonomous driving taxi (Robotaxi) services in Guangzhou in 2018 and provided the first public-driving taxi services in California, USA in 2019.
In Irvine, California, the United States and Hyundai Motors jointly launched the first fully open Robotaxi team in California in November 2019. In February of this year, Pony.ai cooperated with the Fremont, California government to launch the Robotaxi service for public officials.
During the epidemic, Pony.ai and Yamibuy.com, the largest Asian goods shopping platform in North America, cooperated to provide automated, contactless 'last mile' freight transportation services for the citizens of Irvine, California to help Yamibuy fulfill the surge of orders during the period.
Besides, AutoX planned to launch its robotaxi service in Shanghai in cooperation with Amap (aka AutoNavi) in April. Unlike other self-driving cars, that can only stop at fixed stations, AutoX's self-driving vehicles can pick up and drop off passengers at any location requested, providing great flexibility and convenience.
As the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) matures and the development of related technologies speeds up, the competition in the autonomous driving industry will become more and more intense.