Pony.ai completes D round, valuation reaches $8.5 billion

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On March 7th, China’s autonomous driving developer, Pony.ai announced the completion of its Series D financing round, boosting its total valuation to $8.5 billion. 

Photo credit: Pony.ai

In the five years since its establishment, Pony.ai has raised over $1.1 billion, with its valuation growing significantly. Compared to Pony.ai’s Series C investment round in February 2021, the D round brought its valuation up 65%. Currently, the first settlement has come through, bringing Pony.ai’s cash flow to nearly $1 billion.

The fundings will help Pony.ai staff up its team, progress its technology development, expand its Robotaxi and Robotruck fleet, global tests and operations, autonomous driving technology mass production, and commercialization. 

According to the co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai, Peng Jun, the company plans on open up new testing and operation centers worldwide. 

The company believed that its technical abilities and commercialization progress were the two strongholds attracting investors. Its “virtual driver” is able to mimic and even out-perform human drivers under most scenarios.

Pony.ai achieved a lot in the autonomous driving field in the past two years. 

Its Robotaxi platform, PonyPilot, has completed over 600,000 ride-hailing orders worldwide. In November 2021, Pony.ai became one of the first two companies to be greenlighted to conduct paid Robotaxi service in the pilot zone in Beijing.