By the time Pony.ai went public, its robotaxis had driven more than 33.5 million autonomous kilometers. Over 3.9 million of those had no driver in the seat at all. Riders in Beijing and Guangzhou could summon one from an app. The company had started eight years earlier, founded by two former Baidu engineers in Silicon Valley. It filed in late 2024, as the race to put driverless cars on public roads moved from tests to paying fares.

Two Engineers From Baidu

James Peng and Tiancheng Lou founded Pony.ai in December 2016, after working on Baidu's self-driving program in Silicon Valley. The company ran pilots in Guangzhou and in Irvine, California. In 2021 one of its cars hit a road divider in Fremont, and California suspended its driverless testing permit, the first such suspension. Pony kept building in China. It formed a joint venture with Toyota and its Chinese partner GTMC to mass-produce robotaxis.

Thirteen Dollars on Nasdaq

Pony.ai sold 20 million American depositary shares at $13 each in November 2024 and raised about $260 million on Nasdaq. The shares opened around 15 percent above the offer price. In 2025 it tested driverless trucks between Beijing and the Port of Tianjin, signed a deal with Bolt to bring robotaxis to Europe, and added a second listing in Hong Kong in November 2025. Pony.ai still trades on Nasdaq as PONY.

Cover: Philibert the Pony, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a pony.