BAIC Group announces $70.35 million investment in Pony.ai

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On November 29, BAIC Group officially announced a strategic investment of $70.35 million in autonomous driving company Pony.ai.  

Pony.ai's Robotaxi in Beijing; photo credit: Pony.ai

Pony.ai began trading on Nasdaq on November 27 under the ticker symbol "PONY" with an initial public offering price of $13 per share. Prior to the listing, BAIC Group and Singaporean transport operator ComfortDelGro had expressed interest in the IPO, with the Chinese automaker committing up to $70.35 million and ComfortDelGro up to $4.5 million. Both companies already maintain partnerships with Pony.ai.  

α T5; photo credit: ARCFOX

Earlier in November, BAIC Group's new energy vehicle arm BAIC BJEV signed a technical cooperation agreement with Pony.ai to jointly develop L4 autonomous driving vehicles. The collaboration focuses on transforming the ARCFOX α T5 into a fully driverless Robotaxi model, integrating Pony.ai's seventh-generation autonomous driving hardware and software. The first batch of the α T5-based Robotaxis is set to launch in China by 2025.  

According to BAIC Group, the two companies are currently working on vehicle-grade autonomous system R&D, production capabilities, chassis redundancy safety designs, and innovative cockpit experiences. Moving forward, they aim to secure mass-production certifications for L4 autonomous models in compliance with national intelligent vehicle regulations.