Geely’s spokesman denies rumor of talking with Pony.ai for EV development

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Yang Xueliang, spokesman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, said Geely has never talked with Pony.ai about the development of an electric vehicle (EV) model based on its SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) platform.

Photo credit: Geely

A local media outlet revealed earlier this week that the autonomous driving startup Pony.ai was in talks with Geely to co-develop an SEA-based EV model. Mr. Yang said the media channel misread the companies' actions.

It was reported in mid-June that Pony.ai had tapped car making business and had already built in Shanghai a R&D group with over 10 members.

Citing persons with direct knowledge, the report said the startup would start its EV building business with passenger vehicles. However, whether the vehicles would be used for Robotaxi service or sold to consumers was still yet to be known.

With the rapid development of the autonomous driving industry, Pony. ai is vigorously boosting all of its businesses and proactively evaluating the prospect of each business unit, and is ready to adjust its business structure at any moment, said the company.

Pony.ai's Robotaxi fleet; photo credit: Pony.ai

On May 13, Pony.ai said it had expanded the scale of its Robotaxi service in Beijing with the autonomous cars armed with the latest autonomous driving system joining the fleet to serve local commuters.

Apart from Beijing, Pony.ai has also offered Robotaxi service in Guangzhou, Irvine and Fremont in California. The service will be opened to the public in Shanghai in the near future.