Pony.ai starts L4 test on China’s open highway, to expand test fleet next year

Beijing (Gasgoo)- China's leading autonomous driving developer, Pony.ai, started its normalized tests on the G3 highway with its L4 intelligent trucks in Beijing on its fifth birthday yesterday.

PonyTron; photo credit: Pony.ai

According to the company, Pony.ai has become the first Chinese company to perform high-level autonomous driving tests on open highways in the country.

The testing vehicles were Pony.ai's PonyTron L4 autonomous heavy-duty trucks, dedicated for the logistics market, performing L4 level autonomous driving functions on busy highways and expressways.

The PonyTron is equipped with two LiDARs, millimeter-wave radars, high-precision cameras, and high-accuracy locating systems, realizing 360° perception without blind spots. Its long-range camera covers one kilometer of range, and its rear-view cameras help the truck merge lanes safely.

With the support of perception result integrated heuristic algorithms and deep learning abilities, the PonyTron can accurately comprehend and forecast the intentions of other traffic participants' intentions and act accordingly.

Moreover, the head of the PonyTron team, Li Hengyu, disclosed that the company intends to expand the truck fleet to a hundred vehicles next year, with significant business announcements coming soon.

Currently, PonyTron has scored recognitions from several commercialization partners. The fleet has transported 16,400 tons of cargo and accumulated nearly 50,000 km of commercial operation mileages.

In fact, PonyTron was granted permission to conduct road tests in Beijing's E-Town back in July. The company is now the only autonomous driving company in the country to hold testing licenses for both passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks.

PonyTron is now permitted to conduct advanced autonomous driving road tests on six sections of highways in Beijing, totaling 143 km.