Robotaxi pure-play: Pony AI plans for an IPO on the Nasdaq

Chinese autonomous vehicle upstart Pony AI filed for an IPO on the Nasdaq under the trading symbol PONY. The company did not indicate the size of its public offering of shares.

Pony AI, founded in December 2016 by James Peng and Tiancheng Lou, is a global autonomous vehicle technology company with operations in Silicon Valley, Beijing, and Guangzhou. The co-founders, both former software developers for Baidu, established Pony.ai with the goal of advancing autonomous driving technology. Since its inception, Pony.ai has made significant strides in the industry. In April 2019, the company launched a pilot system in Guangzhou, covering 50 km² for employees and invited affiliates. Later that year, they began a trial in Irvine, California. The company has secured partnerships with major manufacturers like Toyota (TM) and obtained permits for driverless ride-hailing services in Chinese cities. In 2024, Pony AI teamed up with Alibaba’s (BABA) online mapping unit Amap in an accelerated push to roll out robotaxis in China.

In its SEC filing, Pony AI said it currently operates a fleet of over 250 robotaxis, which has accumulated over 33.5 million kilometers of autonomous driving mileage, including over 3.9 million kilometers of driverless mileage. The company also highlighted that it was among the first in China to obtain licenses to operate fully driverless robotaxis in all four Tier-1 cities in China (namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), and is the only autonomous driving technology company that has obtained all available regulatory permits essential for providing public-facing robotaxi services within these Tier-1 cities. Pony AI generated revenue of $24.7 million for the six-month period that ended on June 30. A net loss of $51.8 million was recorded for those six months.

The race for robotaxi development and deployment includes, to varying degrees, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Waymo (GOOG), Amazon’s (AMZN) Zoox, May Mobility, Baidu’s (BIDU) Apollo, General Motors’ (GM) Cruise, WeRide, AutoX, Aurora Innovation (AUR), and Motional (APTV) (OTCPK:HYMTF). Within the group of robotaxi fleet aspirants, Tesla (TSLA) has been the most vocal about creating a fleet that allows drivers to rent out their personal vehicles to the fleet.