Pony.ai, an autonomous driving company based in China, has made headlines after receiving the first citywide license to operate driverless commercial robotaxis in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. This paves the way for scalable driverless commercial operations across one of China’s most innovative cities.

The company announced that the permit was awarded jointly to Pony.ai and Xihu Group, the largest taxi operator in the city.

With this license in hand, the two businesses can provide services to the people of Shenzhen—one of the most important IT and innovation hubs in China. Operations will begin in Nanshan, Qianhai, and Baoan areas before gradually expanding to other districts across the city.

Pony.ai plans to put more than 1,000 “Gen-7” robotaxis

The company currently operates a fleet of over 720 robotaxis. According to the companies, over the next few years, they plan to put more than 1,000 of Pony.ai’s seventh-generation (“Gen-7”) robotaxis to work in Shenzhen. 

Dr. James Peng, Founder and CEO of Pony.ai, stated, “The launch of this project marks the official implementation of Pony.ai’s ‘asset-light + AI-empowered’ commercialization model […] By focusing on core technology innovation, Pony.ai empowers traditional transportation operators to achieve intelligent transformation, paving the way for a scalable and replicable commercialization model for autonomous driving.”

Pony.ai has completely autonomous commercial robotaxi services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, four of China’s four Tier-1 cities. Additionally, it has collected over 55 million kilometers of autonomous testing worldwide.

Xihu Group will contribute its extensive experience in fleet management, safety operations, and service assurance, while also sharing in the economic benefits of commercialization. On the other hand,  Pony.ai will focus on advancing AI-driven technologies and scalable robotaxi dispatch operations, creating a synergistic, win–win collaboration that accelerates the citywide deployment of autonomous mobility.

Robotaxis take over Tesla’s market

On the other side of the world, the US has gone ahead with robotaxis. Waymo and Tesla Robotaxis are already operational. However, they have been facing several challenges. Tesla’s Robotaxi service officially went live in late June of this year in Austin, Texas, and has crashed four times since September. 

Waymo vehicles, which have been involved in 1,267 crashes since the service went live, crash approximately every 98,600 miles.

Meanwhile, Tesla is back in Shanghai with a driverless car and a prayer. Next week’s China International Import Expo will mark Tesla’s return to the spotlight in China’s commercial capital, showcasing the Cybercab robotaxi in its Asia-Pacific debut.

Tesla’s Shanghai factory continues to produce more cars than any other in the world. From January to September of this year, it made 432,704 Model 3 and Model Y cars. It sounds amazing until you realize that it only accounts for 4.9% of all the EVs delivered in China during that time.

In just five years, Tesla has lost more than 60% of its market share in a country that is second only to the US in terms of size. Baidu’s Apollo Go offers robotaxi services in several Chinese cities.  

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