Smart and Sustainable Electric Mobility
Toyota, Pony.ai plan to invest a total of more than RMB 1 billion to set up a joint venture within the year, which will launch robotaxi cars built on Toyota's pure electric vehicles.
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Just 19 months old, Qingtian Truck is nearing a shutdown and employees have been dismissed, according to local media.
(Image from Qingtian Truck website)
A Chinese self-driving truck startup that was previously sued by Pony.ai is reportedly winding down, the latest setback seen in the space.
Just 19 months old, Qingtian Truck is nearing a shutdown, with employees having been displaced and its operating entity facing liquidation, according to a report by local media outlet Jiemian today.
Qingtian Truck's engineers have also been leaving the company, the report said, citing self-driving industry sources.
The company's registration information has not yet changed and its operating status remains intact, although its website has not been updated with company news since January, the report noted.
Qingtian Truck was founded in Beijing in November 2021 to work on self-driving truck technology.
It received an angel funding round of nearly $10 million from 5Y Capital, the only round it has disclosed, just two and a half months after its founding.
In August 2022, Pony.ai, a self-driving startup backed by Toyota Motor and Nio Capital, sued Qingtian Truck and its key executives, Pan Zhenhao and Sun Youhan, alleging that the latter had infringed on Pony.ai's trade secrets.
Pan and Sun are two of the founders of Qingtian Truck and had worked for Pony.ai.
Pony.ai asked the court to order Qingtian Truck to stop infringing on its trade secrets and ask it to pay economic damages and expenses totaling RMB 60 million ($8.3 million).
In April, Qingtian Truck filed a countersuit against Pony.ai, claiming that the latter had abused its intellectual property rights and engaged in unfair competition.
In June, the two announced that they had reached a settlement, each withdrawing its lawsuit against the other.
It's unclear what the main reason is for the current woes facing Qingtian Truck, but investors appear to be increasingly cautious about the prospects for commercialization in the autonomous driving space at a time of slowing economic growth in China.
On May 15, Shanghai Securities News reported that e-commerce giant Alibaba's DAMO Academy is no longer retaining its autonomous driving business and team, which is being fully integrated into its logistics arm Cainiao.
This means that Alibaba's self-driving business is entering a whole new phase of moving from cutting-edge technology exploration in the lab to applications in real-world scenarios, the report noted.
($1 = RMB 7.2135)
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Pony.ai has previously been approved to provide robotaxi service without a driver in the car in Beijing and Guangzhou.
(Image credit: Pony.ai)
Pony.ai, a Chinese startup backed by Toyota Motor and NIO Capital, has brought its fully unmanned robotaxi service to yet another Chinese mega-city as it continues to advance its self-driving ambitions.
On May 29, Pony.ai received a permit in Shenzhen to conduct robotaxi services without a safety officer in the vehicle in the city's core areas, the only one to receive the permit in the city so far, according to a press release today.
Founded in late 2016, Pony.ai has established R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, and is running robotaxi operations locally.
In late 2019, NIO Capital said it invested in Pony.ai for an undisclosed amount when it announced the completion of a more than $200 million fundraising. In February 2020, Pony.ai announced it had raised $400 million from Toyota.
Pony.ai launched the robotaxi app PonyPilot in December 2018 and received a permit to operate the robotaxi service for a fee in Beijing in November 2021.
On March 17, Pony.ai announced that it received a license in Beijing to operate fully unmanned robotaxi services within a 60-square-kilometer area in the Yizhuang Economic Development Zone.
On April 26, the company said it was granted permission to offer robotaxi service without a safety officer in the vehicle in Guangzhou, when it put 17 robotaxis into operation.
The expansion of the driverless footprint to Shenzhen confirms Pony.ai's ability to quickly roll out self-driving technology in different cities, it said.
Driverless vehicles need to undergo rigorous testing before hitting the road, including remote scenarios, extreme scenarios, safety management, network and data security, risk response, and a comprehensive assessment by experts and government departments, Pony.ai said.
Successfully passing these tests proves Pony.ai's technical prowess, it said.
To date, Pony.ai has more than 1 million kilometers of fully unmanned testing and nearly 200,000 paid travel orders, the company said.
Pony.ai starts offering robotaxi service in Guangzhou without safety officer in vehicles
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This is the first such permit issued in Guangzhou, where Pony.ai's 17 robotaxis have been approved to provide robotaxi service without safety officers.
(Image credit: Pony.ai)
Pony.ai, a Chinese self-driving startup backed by Toyota Motor and NIO Capital, has been granted a permit for robotaxi service without safety officers in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, after receiving a similar permit in Beijing last month.
This is the first such permit issued in Guangzhou, where Pony.ai's 17 robotaxis were approved to provide the services, according to a press release today.
Within 803 square kilometers of Guangzhou's Nansha district, passengers will have the opportunity to call a real driverless vehicle via the mobile app PonyPilot+, Pony.ai said.
During the ride, passengers who need remote assistance can communicate in real-time with backstage personnel in the vehicle by voice, the company said.
On March 17, Pony.ai announced that it had received a permit in Beijing to operate a fully unmanned robotaxi service within 60 square kilometers of the Yizhuang Economic Development Zone.
Founded in late 2016, Pony.ai has set up R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, and is running robotaxi operations locally.
In late 2019, NIO Capital said it invested in Pony.ai when it announced the completion of more than $200 million in fundraising. In February 2020, Pony.ai announced it had raised $400 million from Toyota.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
Pony.ai launched the robotaxi app PonyPilot in December 2018 and received a permit to operate the robotaxi service for a fee in Beijing in November 2021.
To date, Pony.ai has accumulated 21 million kilometers of autonomous driving, more than 1 million kilometers of fully unmanned testing and nearly 200,000 paid orders, it said today.
Baidu's robotaxi platform Apollo Go gets permit to offer fully driverless rides in Beijing
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Baidu and Pony.ai will both put 10 test vehicles in a 60-square-kilometer test area in Beijing with no one in the front row.
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