Pony.ai received a USD100 million investment from NEOM of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the NIF (NEOM Investment Fund).
EqualOcean reported on October 25 that Pony.ai received a USD100 million investment from NEOM of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the NIF (NEOM Investment Fund). At the same time, Pony.ai and NEOM plan to establish a joint venture in the New Future City in northwest Saudi Arabia to provide autonomous driving technology solutions to the region. This round of financing will be used for global R&D and operational investment in autonomous driving technology.
Pony.ai and NEOM use the joint venture as a platform to carry out autonomous driving R&D and manufacturing for the new future city in Saudi Arabia and even the Middle East and North Africa and deploy autonomous driving service fleets and smart car-related infrastructure.
Majid Mufti, CEO of NIF, said: "This investment is in line with the ambitious plan to realize NEOM's smart transportation strategy. Pony.ai has mature solutions and experience in the field of autonomous driving research and development, and we are very much looking forward to the use of this technology in the new future in the near future. The city is applied.”
Terry Wong, Executive Director of NEOM Land Transportation Bureau, said: "Investing in Pony.ai is an important step for NEOM to build an intelligent, zero-emission, diversified transportation system. This transportation system closely connects residents and communities in Saudi Arabia's new future city, and also benefits It provides the soil for the birth of human technology. This cooperation brings us closer to a new era of safer, more convenient, and sustainable travel."
The joint venture plans to establish an autonomous driving manufacturing and R&D center in the New Future City. Saudi Arabia's New Future City is a strategic location for Pony.ai to promote global technology deployment, and will gradually expand autonomous driving technologies and products to more Middle Eastern and North African countries based on this.
Peng Jun, co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai, said: "We are very pleased to reach strategic cooperation with NEOM to organically combine Pony.ai's leading autonomous driving technology and operational experience with the construction vision of Saudi Arabia's new future city. In NEOM This 'future place where people and ideas are pioneeringly liberated' explores innovative ways of self-driving travel. This cooperation is undoubtedly a milestone for Pony.ai to implement its globalization strategy, and it is also our continuous practice of 'autonomous driving is within reach' 'The embodiment of vision. Both parties work together for a win-win situation and will surely push the global autonomous driving industry pattern to a new stage."
Saudi Arabia's New Future City provides a global testing ground for future travel exploration, in which autonomous vehicles are an important part of the city's efforts to build a diversified intelligent transportation system powered by 100% renewable energy. Saudi Arabia's new future city was planned from scratch, setting aside the restrictions of the old road infrastructure and aiming to provide ideal soil for the construction of water, land, and air transportation networks.
Pony.ai continues to work hard on globalization and explores future changes in smart transportation with more countries and regions. On October 18, Pony.ai and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority of the United Arab Emirates signed a cooperation agreement at the Gulf Information Technology Expo (GITEX Global), becoming a new member of the Smart Automotive Industry Cluster (SAVI) created by Abu Dhabi and was approved to operate in Yas The island conducts self-driving road tests. In addition, Pony.ai is the first domestic company to launch full-vehicle autonomous driving travel services (Robotaxi) in Beijing and Guangzhou and is also the first domestic company to launch autonomous driving tests in four major first-tier cities.