Toyota companies, Pony.ai partner to advance production of driverless robotaxis
Pony.ai will receive Toyota-branded battery electric vehicles
General Motors CEO addresses self-driving Cruise robotaxi unit
FOX Business' Liz Claman spoke to General Motors CEO Mary Barra about GM’s Cruise robotaxi. They discussed the technology and safety of the driverless cars. And we got Barra’s reaction to Arm CEO Rene Haas describing his ride in a Cruise vehicle.
Toyota Motor Investment Co., GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. and Silicon Valley partner Pony.ai announced Friday they would form a joint venture to advance the mass production and large-scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis.
The joint venture company will be established this year with an estimated investment of nearly $140 million.
GAC Toyota Motor Co, Ltd, headquartered in Guangzhou, China, will provide Pony.ai with Toyota-branded battery electric vehicles.
The vehicles are equipped with Toyota’s vehicle redundant systems that are suitable for L4 autonomous driving development and will also have Pony.ai’s advanced autonomous driving technology.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
Executives from Pony.ai, Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co. and GAC Toyota Motor Co. held a joint venture signing ceremony Aug. 4, 2023. (Business Wire / Fox News)
They will run on Pony.ai’s robotaxi network platform, PonyPilot+.
"The joint venture combines Pony.ai's world-class autonomous driving technology and robotaxi operations experience, Toyota’s highly regarded vehicle technologies and GTMC's advanced production experience," Pony.ai said in a release. "It will provide the capacity for scaled-up robotaxi services, encourage the full commercialization of advanced autonomous mobility and drive the development of the entire industry into a new stage."
A joint venture signing ceremony was held Friday.
A logo of the autonomous driving technology startup Pony.ai on a screen during an event in Beijing May 13, 2021. (REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Pony.ai and Toyota announced they would work together to advance the development of autonomous vehicles in China in 2019, testing on public roads that September using Toyota's Lexus RX 450h model and Pony.ai’s autonomous driving systems.
In April, they tested the Toyota's Lexus RX 450h model and Pony.ai’s autonomous driving systems on public roads in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Pony.ai founder and CEO James Peng during an interview with Reuters at the company's office in Fremont, Calif., June 17, 2021. (REUTERS/Nathan Frandino / Reuters Photos)
Among its self-owned fleets, Pony.ai has a combined fleet of around 200 Toyota and Lexus brand robotaxis located in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
"This is not only an important step for Toyota to carry out 'Chinese-style succession and evolution' but also a new stage in our business cooperation with Pony.ai," Toyota China CEO Tatsuro Ueda said in a statement provided to Reuters.
Reuters contributed to this report.