Taxis will operate in the south of Beijing around the airport and require a safety officer in the passenger seat, while truck platoons will run between Beijing and Tianjin.
Pony.ai has begun driverless robotaxi tests on highways in Beijing after becoming one of the few companies permitted to operate the vehicles without a person in the driver’s seat.
The permit still requires vehicles to have a safety officer in the front passenger seat, but the service is now open to the public for paid autonomous shuttle services around Beijing Daxing International Airport and Beijing South Railway Station.
Permits offered vary by road and time, with some permitting testing from 7pm to 1am at night, and others from 9am to 5pm, ensuring the ability to test across a variety of lighting and traffic conditions.
Somewhat differently from other such providers, Pony.ai uses petrol-powered cars, including the Toyota Sienna MPV and Lexus RX SUV.
In earlier news, Pony.ai announced it had become the first company permitted to operate unmanned truck platoons in China, whereby a piloted lead truck is followed by unmanned trucks.
The first trials cover the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu expressway, where Pony.ai autonomous trucks have already transported around 500 container units and covered more than 45,000km of delivery mileage.
To the end of 2024, their autonomous trucks had completed more than five million kilometres of road testing and transported over 860 million tonne-kilometres of cargo.
Earlier this month, Pony.ai announced it will offer robotaxi services at Hong Kong International Airport.
China’s robotaxi market is expected to reach 100,000 vehicles by 2030 with Pony.ai predicting they will make up between 10 and 20 percent of the overall travel market.
As such, global consultancy firm IHS Markit is forecasting the value of China’s autonomous taxi service to reach $180 billion by 2030 and make up 60 percent of the country’s ride-hailing segment.
