Pony.ai's new-generation Robotaxi starts road test in Beijing

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Pony.ai, a Chinese autonomous driving solution provider, recently launched its latest Robotaxi model equipped with its sixth-generation autonomous driving hardware system for public road testing in the Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area (BJHAD).

Photo credit: Pony.ai

The Robotaxis, which are built on the Toyota Sienna Autono-Maas (S-AM) model, have already accumulated more than 50,000 kilometers of road test distance. Thanks to the supportive policies in the BJHAD, the vehicles are expected to soon enter fully unmanned road testing in the 60-square-kilometer core area of Beijing’s Yizhuang area during busy rush hours, providing fully autonomous Robotaxi driving services for local residents.

This new system makes the Robotaxis look more like ordinary mass-produced cars, with sensor suites made up of more stable and lower-cost automotive-grade production components, including four solid-state LiDAR units, three supplemental LiDAR units, three millimeter-wave radars, and eleven cameras. Compared to Pony.ai’s previous generation of autonomous driving sensor suites, the volume and weight have been greatly reduced, the integration level has been increased, and the design is more lightweight and aesthetically pleasing. 

In addition, the vehicles' performance has been greatly improved in complex and extreme weather conditions such as rain, snow, fog, and sandstorms, thanks to the company’s self-developed sensor cleaning system.

To ensure safety, Pony.ai uses multiple layers of redundancy mechanisms. In the rare event of a main system anomaly, the Robotaxi can enter a minimum risk state through means such as gradual braking, parking at the side of the road, and emergency braking, waiting for subsequent commands or being taken over by rescue personnel. In addition to redundancy design at the system level, each hardware and software submodule is also equipped with redundancy.