Pony.ai, Toyota unveil robotaxi at CIIE

Autonomous driving startup Pony.ai unveiled a robotaxi concept in collaboration with Japanese car giant Toyota on Sunday at the ongoing China International Import Expo.

The concept vehicle is built based on Sino-Japanese joint venture GAC Toyota's electric bZ4X model and features Pony.ai's seventh-generation hardware and software kit for Level 4 autonomous driving solutions.

The vehicle marks the latest move since Pony.ai, Toyota China and GAC Toyota established a joint venture in August to advance the mass production and large-scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis.

Pony.ai joined hands with Toyota in 2019 in terms of autonomous driving, and the two have worked out solutions on three Toyota models.

Established in late 2016, Pony.ai is the first to have a fleet of autonomous vehicles in China and the United States.

It is also among the first in China to obtain licenses to operate fully driverless vehicles in all four tier-1 cities in the country.